EwtNet

Tag: hangouts

  • Google+ Hangouts Host Olympic Athletes

    Google+ Hangouts Host Olympic Athletes

    Google’s Hangout feature is once again giving Google+ users a chance to get closer to the stars, this time with a Olympic twist. The New York Times-sponsored series started on Wednesday with basketball stars Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks, and Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers. Both are members of the 2012 USA Basketball team. The hangouts will run through next Tuesday.

    Google Hangouts have been a favorite stop of politicians, celebrities, and friends.President Obama used the feature to connect with voters back in January, and musical artists the Black Eyed Peas participated in a hangout last October to chat with fans shortly before they took the stage at a concert in New York City. But with the Olympics coming up in short order, it makes sense for these hangouts to feature some of America’s top athletes, doesn’t it? That said, the list of athletes participating is heavy in the marathoner department, with three runners. Friday’s chat featured Shalane Flanagan, a long distance runner planning to participate in the Olympic Marathon. Monday’s Olympic Games Hangout will also feature another runner, male marathoner Ryan Hall, who is expected to contend for a medal in London. His Google Plus hangout begins at 2 p.m. ET. Hall will be followed by brothers Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, the second ranked men’s doubles team in the world and widely expected to earn a medal in the Olympic tennis tournament. Their chat occurs at 5 p.m. ET Monday.

    The Hangout series ends on Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET, with yet another marathoner, Kara Goucher. All chats occur from The New York Times’Google+ page. If you would like to ask a question, either comment on the post announcing the Hangout or post the question to your own Google+ wall with the hashtag #London2012Hangout. Those with the best questions will get the chance to ask them live of the athletes during the event, the paper says.  

  • Tabletop Forge, Tabletop Gaming Tools for Google Hangouts

    Tabletop Forge, Tabletop Gaming Tools for Google Hangouts

    We sometimes like to shine a spotlight on deserving Kickstarter games but this week’s project is a little different. Instead of a game played on technology it’s a game played with technology, and it promises to make the online lives of tabletop gamers infinitely easier.
    Anyone that’s ever tried to run a game of Dungeons and Dragons or another tabletop roleplaying game online knows that trying to take your game to the Internet add an extra layer of complexity on top of an already complicated game. In addition to keeping track of all of the dice rolls, map positions and NPC information you normally need, you also have to figure out some way of selectively informing the other players of all the pertinent information without the convenience of them sitting right next to you to see it.


    However, the team at Tabletop Forge thinks they’ve found a solution. By adding some robust tabletop gaming tools to the Google+ Hangouts feature, the team believes they’ve found an ideal way to help tabletop gamers play online. Tabletop Forge adds great RP specific features to the group videoconferencing features of hangouts that allow you to use virtual dice rolling, battle maps for laying out combat quickly and easily online, and even a macro system so you can edit any commands the team might not have thought of into Tabletop Forge.
    The core Tabletop Forge system is already in working order, but the team is running a Kickstarter to get some professional art assets into the Forge so that gamers can quickly and easily pick out maps and monsters that are right for their campaign and get started playing faster.
    The team has already easily surpassed their initial $5000 goal and are in the home stretch to meet a final $38,000 stretch goal that will add even more features and maps to the Tabletop Forge arsenal. If you’re interested, head on over to their Kickstarter Page and take a look at their donation options.

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