Google+ Hangouts have been at the heart of some of the hottest video conferencing technologies since it first debuted as part of Google+ several years ago. The Hangouts’ technology creates a dynamic place to engage your social network through video, chat, and other applications. Let’s uncover how to use this unique video conferencing system from Google as an attendee, and as a host. 

If you are interested in creating professional connections through Google+, then you need to attend the various Google+ Hangouts. These hangouts are an excellent place to connect with other entrepreneurs, designers, and techies.

Find a good Hangout

Check out Google Hangout and Google Events to discover Hangouts that are of interest to you. The hangouts and events are listed on the left of your Google+ Page, on the side menu. 

Another way to find relevant Google Hangouts is to join the Google Hangouts On Air Community. The community has over 8,000 members that are constantly posting new Hangouts.  

Get there early

Google+ Hangouts are video conferencing events. For users with free accounts, the first nine people can be on video; for hosts with pro accounts that goes up to the first fifteen people. Everyone else can only interact with the Hangout via the chat or watch on YouTube. This is still worth doing, but the bigger benefit lies in joining a group of people to talk with on the video Hangout.

Be prepared to speak

If you join the hangout through video conferencing, you might have to actually talk a bit about the topic. While this might be terrifying to some, keep in mind that you cannot make connections sitting on the sidelines. The most profitable connections come from engaging with others online, not randomly submitting updates. 

Google+ Hangouts are great for networking events

The social media community I run on Google+ has a monthly Google+ Hangout where the community members can gather to connect. We treat this as a regular offline-networking event, where everyone gets a chance to do their 30 second introductions, and then we discuss some social media challenge we are all facing together. 

Not everyone will attend, but the people who do attend get a kick out of talking to each other through the video conferencing system.  

Finding the hangout through the community is a little challenging. They place the live hangout link on the sidebar of the community underneath all the members. Unfortunately, they do not allow you to share a hangout link as a post, which would be more visible to members.

Use Google+ Hangouts for interviews and podcasts

What if you need to do a video or audio recording with someone, but do not have webinar or recording software? Google’s instant recording software is available to you free. This is great when you need to do interviews, screen shares, and video presentations. Afterwards, YouTube has your video saved for easy use.

Use Google+ Hangouts on Air (HoA) to do webinars from your website

This might surprise you, but with the technology available with Google’s HoA through YouTube, you can embed a video on your website and turn your hangout into a live webinar. We actually tested this during a recent hangout and everything went very smoothly. 

There was a bit of a delay running the webinar through WordPress, however, WordPress is ideal for merging these technologies. You can now add WordPress plugins for chat boxes, social sharing, and any products you want to sell directly on the webinar page.

In conclusion

Google Hangouts is a technology that has the potential to re-define how people connect on the internet. It takes away the already outdated notion people can no longer develop quality relationships online. The tools are here to help you create the experience you want to develop with your prospects, clients, and referral partners.

Featured image/thumbnail, hangout image via Rock Cousteau.

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Tuning in to Female Bird Song

New research in Nature Communications reveals female bird song is widespread, challenging Darwin�s conclusions.

Since the days of Darwin, scientists have considered bird song to be an exclusively male trait, resulting from sexual selection. Now a team of researchers from UMBC, the University of Melbourne in Australia, Leiden University in the Netherlands and The Australian National University says that�s not the whole story.

Led by UMBC Ph.D. student Karan Odom in the lab of Kevin Omland, biological sciences, the team completed a survey of birds from around the globe. They focused on early-diverging Australasian lineages, which contribute strongly to what the ancestral songbird might have been like. Of the songbirds surveyed, 71% had female song. The researchers then mapped the traits of female song onto an evolutionary tree. The results of their analysis, now published in Nature Communications, showed that the common ancestor of modern songbirds had female song.

This research doesn�t turn Darwin�s theory of sexual selection on its head, but it does mean there is more to the story than what Darwin proposed. While sexual selection has probably played a major role in the evolution of elaborate bird song, other selection pressures or processes have also probably played a role, especially at the initial stages of its evolution. Most notably, Darwin�s writings do not consider or explain how song could have evolved in both sexes.

�Darwin was from Great Britain. In the spring these brightly colored males show up, and they likely served as his primary reference point for bird song,� says Odom. Both male and female birds sing year-round in many other regions, such as the tropics.

The work of Odom and her team shows that bird song did evolve in both sexes. Because song evolved in both males and females, the reasons for its initial evolution may not have only been sexual selection as proposed by Darwin, but perhaps also social selection in which both males and females may have competed for resources needed for survival and reproduction, as opposed to just �attracting mates.�

Mike Webster, director of the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, explains, �The standard thinking is that competition for mates has led to the evolution of bright colors and loud songs in males, whereas selection for avoidance of predators has led to females that are cryptically colored and relatively quiet.�

�This study by Odom et al. stands this view on its head by showing that singing females are actually quite widespread, and also that females sang in the ancestor of all modern songbirds,� Webster notes. �This implies that competition for mates may not be the driving force behind the origin of these elaborate vocal traits, and sends us back to the drawing board to look for answers.�

Odom says this research opens the door for exploring alternative evolutionary scenarios and processes that Darwin might not have considered with regard to the evolution of bird song.

Coverage of the study has already appeared in outlets around the world, from Britain�s BBC World Service Newshour (jump to 48:20) and The Times, to Germany�s Der Spiegel, to Australia�s ABC Radio National. Full news coverage is available on UMBC�s Insights blog.

(03/11/2014)

Photo on main Research page: Singing female Superb Fairywren (Malurus cyaneus) by Lindley McKay

You may have heard by now that President Obama recently appeared on the parody interview show ‘Between Two Ferns’ With Zach Galifianakis found on the website “Funny or Die”.

He was using this scripted comedy short to pitch the Affordable Care Act (AKA Obamacare). The appearance was a clear effort to reach a younger audience. The White House needs that demographic to sign up for Obamacare if the program is to work.

Predictably, opponents of the President thought the tactic was tactless. What about you?

We have created a poll on the subject and would like to get your opinion!

(Go to the link above…Click the answer you prefer then click the word ‘vote”. Your choices are listed below)

We all know the fiscal mess that America “enjoys” today.  

So when Obama rolled out his ginormous $3.901 trillion budget for 2015 earlier this month, we were looking for the painful but necessary budgetary cuts that would affect we citizens.

Hidden amidst the tax raises for the rich and tax credits for middle- and lower-class, was the silver (and copper) hatchet.

Obama wants to take that hatchet to the heads of Jefferson and Lincoln… he wants to meddle with the metal of the nickel and the penny.

In the past 8 years the cost to produce these coins has exceeded their face value. Taxpayers overpaid more than $100 million last year alone. The nickel costs 9.4 cents to make while a measly penny costs 1.8 cents. 

Costs of copper, nickel, and zinc have been rising since the first half of the 21st century. Since then, the U.S. Mint and taxpayers have been the biggest losers. 

The 2015 budget overview states:
“Treasury is undertaking a comprehensive review of U.S. currency, including a review of both the production and use of coins…these studies will analyze alternative metals…”

While some people propose changing the metal used in the coins, others simply want to get rid of pennies and nickels entirely. The United States might be able to take some lessons from their neighbor up north. 

Canadian nickels are made mostly of steel making them cheaper than our coins and cost less than their face value. The Canadians also scrapped their pennies when production costs got to 1.6 cents. Some good ideas, eh?

But at least for now, the nickels and pennies are here to stay. Some like it and some argue that the U.S. Mint could use some common cents. 

Google Code Jam 2014 Registration is open and the qualification round starts on Friday, April 11, 2014. Google Code Jam is an international programming competition hosted and administered by Google. The competition began in 2003 as a means to identify top engineering talent for potential employment at Google.

The competition consists of a set of algorithmic problems which must be solved in a fixed amount of time. Competitors may use any programming language and development environment to obtain their solutions. More than 45,000 coders registered to compete last year and the winner, Ivan Miatselski won the $15,000 grand prize.

If you are interested in finding out more, see the Google Code Jam quick start guide and try some of the practice problems from past competitions. The first qualification round starts on April 11 and the finals will take place in Los Angeles on August 15.

Google Code Jam 2014 Registration is open and the qualification round starts on Friday, April 11, 2014. Google Code Jam is an international programming competition hosted and administered by Google. The competition began in 2003 as a means to identify top engineering talent for potential employment at Google.

The competition consists of a set of algorithmic problems which must be solved in a fixed amount of time. Competitors may use any programming language and development environment to obtain their solutions. More than 45,000 coders registered to compete last year and the winner, Ivan Miatselski won the $15,000 grand prize.

If you are interested in finding out more, see the Google Code Jam quick start guide and try some of the practice problems from past competitions. The first qualification round starts on April 11 and the finals will take place in Los Angeles on August 15.

Tomorrow marks the third annual Scholarship Luncheon celebrating donors and their contribution to support our UMBC students. This yearly meet-and-greet event is a great opportunity for donors to get to know the scholarship recipients and understand just how big an impact their gifts have on the UMBC students and community.

A highlight of the event is the opportunity to hear from two special speakers: a donor and a student. This year, donor Ken Pittman ’80, Economics, of PNC Wealth Management will share the story of why he supports UMBC and one of the Linehan Art scholars will share the story of how receiving a scholarship has changed her life and advanced her studies.

More than just a time to express gratitude, however, the scholarship luncheon promotes the possibility of future philanthropy – the students are able to see the faces behind the scholarships and realize that the people giving these gifts are real people with passions just like themselves with a desire to give back to others and their community. It’s heartwarming for the donors to meet the students face to face and students are also touched at the chance to learn the story behind the scholarship.

And even as the luncheon ends and our donors and students go their separate ways, the effects of their meeting often last beyond this day, beyond UMBC and even extend into the personal lives of the donors and recipients. One particular student was so grateful to his donor that he made the effort to follow up and maintain a relationship. Equally, the donors enjoy the chance to see where the students are after graduation: where they are working, what has happened in their lives and what they are working toward in their future.

As we at UMBC see it, this is what philanthropy should be: a lasting legacy and the chance to make new connections. We appreciate all the donors who support our students – you are making a very real mark on our campus and changing lives.

Make your mark today! Support students scholarships.