Nitecruzr Buzz

Google+ - Expanding The GoogleSphere Again

2011-07-20T00:29:00.000-07:00

This month, Google takes on both FaceBook and Twitter, and captures the good features of both - and more.

Google+ combines the community building possibilities of FaceBook, Following / Friend Connect, and Twitter. It adds, to the functionality of FaceBook, the built in ability to separate your personal, business, and other lives - so your future prospective employer never need learn about the last summer you spent debauching yourself. And it adds, to the functionality of Twitter, an unrestricted message length - not the imitation SMS message length limitation of 140 characters, that frustrates many Twitter users.

Yet, there are limitations and pitfalls. Owners of Blogger blogs, who are unaware of the involvement of Picasa in hosting the photos uploaded into their blogs, have learned the hard way that deleting photos from Google+ is a very bad idea.

We've learned how to publish to a Blogger blog from Google+, though a seamless technique for posting from Blogger to Google+ is yet to be provided.

Overall, though, Google+ is the new feature of the year. When you get an invitation, from a friend, this is one Internet service you will want to setup immediately, and to share with your friends - when you get the chance.

Personal Cyber Warfare - Defamation Is Not Impersonation

2011-07-16T07:50:00.000-07:00

In in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, we see a fair number of complaints asking why Blogger won't remove a blog that contains trash talk (aka "libel" / "slander"), which is targeting them, personally.

Impersonation may involve identity theft, and is a TOS violation. Blogger / Google will resolve impersonation issues, by removing a blog or website that contains impersonation, when properly reported. Defamation, however, is not so simple.

What one person sees as libel or slander, another person (maybe in a different country, and bound by a different set of customs and laws) may see as free speech. Libel and slander are civil issues, which must be decided by the courts system.

The Internet, in it's ability to casually bring together people from different geographical, legal, and political systems, is going to cause international conflict, from time to time. As each new Internet feature, such as the recently released Google+, debuts, we're going to see new forms of personality clashes. It will be interesting to see how all of the conflict shakes down.

Continuing To Paint Ourselves Into The Corner

2011-06-09T09:24:00.000-07:00

Long ago, I wrote about overly restrictive security, and the literal tendency to paint ourselves into corners.

This month, the tradition continues, and we can see two prime examples with recent Blogger disturbances - people who cannot comment on certain blogs, and people who can't see the Followers gadget on any blogs.

Come on folks, if you're going to protect yourself, learn how to not block the services that you need.

Nitecruzr Comment Of The Month Award

2011-05-15T09:41:00.000-07:00

This week, following the major meltdown of Blogger after the "routine" maintenance release, we have a comment by one reader Gabriele C, who observes casually

I knew it would pay off some day to make a copy of the template code every time I tweak it.

And that makes my posts about Responsible Practices seem almost worthwhile.

Congrats, Gabriele. And thanks.

Internet Explorer V9 Is Out

2011-04-06T08:38:00.000-07:00

Last month, Microsoft released the newest version of their Internet Explorer browser. This month, many blog owners are discovering problems with using Post Editor, Stats, and other Blogger wizards. Most of the problems reported mention Internet Explorer, just upgraded to V9.

Until Blogger updates all of their scripts, folks, you will be better off with Internet Explorer V8 - or better yet, Chrome or Firefox.

The Optional Naked Domain Redirect

2011-03-21T10:03:00.000-07:00

In my Grants Tomb observation of the year, I'll point out a diagnosis that I make every couple months in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken. If your custom domain is properly setup, yet it's still not quite working, check the option to

Redirect mydomain.com to "www.mydomain.com".

Such a simple selection - and so easily overlooked.

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The Sky Is Falling!

2011-02-04T16:19:00.000-08:00

In the legendary fable "Chicken Little", the main character ran around screaming

The sky is falling!

In Frank Baum's classic "The Wizard Of Oz", the main character, Dorothy, went around moaning about

Lions, and tigers, and bears! Oh, my!

This week, we have fearful blog owners wondering

What is "goo.gl", and why is their porn website linking to my blog?

It's Referer Spam, folks. Can you see the Referer Spam that this blog is getting? No, you can't. I can't see yours, either.

Ignore it - don't click on the links - and get back to work.

Nitecruzr Dot Net Supports True Multi-Lingual Blogging

2010-08-03T15:38:00.000-07:00

As a recognisition of the reality of global languages, Nitecruzr Dot Net now announces the Cumulus "In Your Language" Non English Translator Gadget.

Now, if your blog is published in any of 7 different non English languages, you can provide your readers the convenience of the Cumulus Translator Gadget.

Where's The "B"?

2010-06-12T12:20:00.000-07:00

In 1984, the Wendy's hamburger chain asked

Where's the beef?

Today, thanks to the inconsistent deployment of the Template Designer in Production Blogger, I'm going to ask

Where's the "B"?

The "B" logo is so inconspicuous, yet so useful. And, thanks to the schizophrenic "Design" link, could be even more useful - if it were part of the Template Designer, which it is not.

What's In The Boxes?

2010-05-08T15:54:00.000-07:00

Depending upon what browser you use, how you use the browser, and how well publicised your blog is, you may or may not be able to access or "find" your blog (or your friends blogs). The complaint

I can't find my blog!

can have dozens of base causes. Many of the boxes, in your blog or in the browser, have no name or predictable location - or even predictable existence. Misuse or unavailability of these unnamed boxes can cause panic, to the uninformed.

Get Into The New Post Editor And Designer Templates Slowly, Or Quickly

2010-05-06T21:18:00.000-07:00

How you start using the new post editor, and the new designer templates, is up to you. You can go slowly, or quickly - just know the possibilities, and the issues that affect your choice.

The New Designer Templates - Helping Drive Internet Bandwidth Requirements

2010-05-02T14:24:00.000-07:00

If you're a regular viewer of any of the Nitecruzr Dot Net blogs, maybe recently you've noted hesitance or sluggishness when downloading or scrolling through my articles. I now have 4 blogs - see the Tab Bar above - The Buzz (this one), Blogging, Kitchen, and Musings - converted to designer templates. Each one uses a full size, 24 bit colour photo as background, with each photo using 6 - 8 M RAM. The hesitance or sluggishness is not your imagination.

See The Tabs Above?

2010-04-29T21:18:00.000-07:00

That used to be a Pages gadget, which could only index static pages. If you replace the Pages gadget with a linklist, you have a Tabs Index with new possibilities.

The Missing "Template Designer" Link

2010-04-26T14:17:00.000-07:00

Not everybody yet understands that the new Designer Templates are only available from the Blogger In Draft dashboard. Neither the Customize link in the navbar, nor any other shortcuts, will get you to the Draft "Page Elements" wizard - even if you are logged in to Blogger In Draft as your default.

Customising The Designer Templates

2010-04-24T14:13:00.000-07:00

Since setting up this blog with a Designer Template, I've made a couple tweaks to the layout. One tweak removed the white background behind the posts - that took a brief few seconds, to find and use the GUI "Transparent" option. A second tweak involved centering the blog header (Title and Description, above) - and for that there is no GUI control, though the change still required only a brief few seconds.

PTC / PTS And Other Frauds

2010-04-18T15:27:00.000-07:00

We've seen a few blogs recently confirmed as spam, which appear to be focused or named around Pay To Click / Pay To Surf advice content. So, I did some thinking, and reasoned why PTC and PTS should have no place in the Blogosphere.

Adding The Jump Break To Older Templates

2010-04-17T13:27:00.000-07:00

Did you just add the "Jump Break" feature to your blog, following the instructions from Blogger, to add the extra snippet of code? Are you observing odd behaviour, such as the legendary post / sidebar alignment problems, or photos disappearing / being oddly placed in the post?

It's possible that the instructions as provided by Blogger, when taken literally, may be causing such odd behaviour.

Blogs With Classic Templates Receive New Lease On Life

2010-04-13T00:14:00.000-07:00

For any of you publishing a blog that uses a classic (HTML) template, Blogger made a major improvement yesterday. A long requested option, the "Newer Posts" / "Older Posts" links, was added to the classic template meta language.

So now, if your blog display is segmented by Auto Pagination - even if your blog uses a classic template - your readers (and the search engines) can access all of the posts in your archives.

Safe

2010-04-09T14:34:00.000-07:00

In an idle search today, I discovered that Nitecruzr Dot Net, and all blogs in the domain, are now considered safe, by various website monitor programs. Both SERPs in Google Search, Google Safe Browsing, and McAfee SiteAdvisor, now show Nitecruzr Dot Net in green.

We tested this site and didn't find any significant problems.

So now, you may enjoy all Nitecruzr Dot Net blogs in assurance of perfect safety. Spammers, note: We will continue to moderate comments, ruthlessly. "Nice Blog" spammers need not apply here.

And in other news, we are seeing noticeably less reports about hijacked blogs, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

Gadget Based Malware Attack Continues

2010-03-23T20:19:00.000-07:00

This week, we note that the hijacking of Blogger blogs, observed earlier this month, involving maliciously coded third party Blogger Gadgets, has resumed.

On a positive note, we see that Blogger has now taken responsibility of the problem.

Avoid Custom Domain Problems

2010-03-18T15:02:00.000-07:00

Having written my somewhat popular guide Troubleshooting Your Custom Domain Problems, I have learned that many problems addressed in the guide can be better solved by being avoided.

So, I'm now writing Setting Up A Custom Domain, as an overview to avoiding what can be avoided.

Templates

2010-03-11T11:46:00.000-08:00

Well, Blogger finally did it.

In Draft, today, you'll find the new Blogger templates. 3 column templates, templates that use transparency overlays, 4 column templates, even 3 and 4 columns, with split sidebars. And some very shiny backgrounds.

This will keep all the artistic types busy, for a good while. And there will be less damaged templates, from importing third party code.

From the Draft Blogger dashboard, select "Layout". From the navbar, "Customize". Then, "Template Designer".

So that's the end to boring Blogger templates. What you have now is a combinable inventory of 4 exciting styles, with separately selected layouts (2, 3, and 4 columns, split sidebars, left / right variations), a background library with colour palette, and adjustable column widths. Enough choices to keep many bloggers busy choosing.

Social Engineering Attacks Against Blogger Blogs

2010-03-05T10:15:00.000-08:00

This month, we are seeing what appears to be the fourth identified social engineering attack against Blogger blogging, in as many months.

In December 2009, we saw a "blogoholic.info" hijack.

In January 2010, we saw a "smashingfeeds.com" / "searchinvented.com" hijack, most commonly involving a "Tweet This" accessory.

In February 2010, we saw a "sendptp.com" hijack, most commonly involving a "falling snow" / "falling hearts" (for Valentines Day) gadget.

This month, we are seeing a "deplayer.net" hijack, apparently involving various "visit counter" / "countdown timer" and "music accessory" gadgets.

Each month, some reports also mention gadgets identified in previous months, also redirecting to the hijack of the month URL. This makes the observed activity very likely to be part of an organised, persistent attack.

The most recently identified attacks use aggressively protected code, and may require manual de install procedures.

Please, be careful of any non Blogger accessory. If you (your blog) are the victim of any such accessory, and can identify where you got the accessory, or where it was recommended to you, your information could be valuable here.

It appears that some malware may be included in some gadgets installed by the Blogger "Add a Gadget" wizard. If you find removing any Blogger gadgets to provide you any relief, please report your findings in my article Some Hijack Malware Is Being Claimed To Be Blogger Provided. Your details, provided there, would be greatly appreciated.

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Heather At "Card Services" Gets Gagged

2009-12-11T13:18:00.000-08:00

Good news, this week. Those infernally annoying phone calls

Hi, this is Heather at Card Services. I have important information about your credit card account. You can lower the interest rate on one or more of your credit card accounts. Press "1" for more information.

are ended. After years of complaining about DNC violations by "Card Services" et al, the FTC has taken action.

That's one scammer out of action, for a while.

Google Urging Email Address Verification

2009-12-11T11:03:00.000-08:00

It looks like Blogger / Google is finally urging bloggers to verify their email addresses. This is badly needed, to prevent the old complaint

I forgot my password, and the email address changed a couple years ago.

Bravo, Blogger!