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Google+ - The End Approaches

2018-10-09T14:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Google announced their recent business decision - to close the "consumer" portion of Google+ in 2019.

The decision was supposedly based jointly on one major security flaw, previously undisclosed - and on the frequently stated perception that low usage of Google+ justifies it being shutdown.

Google makes mistakes, as it moves ahead. Closing Google+ would be a major mistake.

Google makes business decisions, because it is a business.

Google+ is more than a business product - and to close it, based purely on a business decision, is a mistake. Possibly, the biggest one made, in the history of Google.

The mixture of common and differing abilities, cultures, geographies, interests, professions, technologies, and other demographic details makes Google+ more powerful than any competing social network - and more than either a business or a consumer product, alone.

Google is making a business mistake.

Google+ has a unique community of multiple people, with multiple interests - and Google+ is an important part of the Google suite of services.

You can expand your community of friends, based on a common interest - and you can expand your interests, based on your community of friends. As your community expands, so do your interests, your friends community, and your friends interests.

Everybody's communities and interests expand, constantly. Part of the expansion involves Google+ being one service, in the Google suite of services.

People who are interested in religion come to Google+, discuss religion, learn about Blogger, and become Blogger "customers". People interested in medicine come to Google+, discuss medicine, learn about GMail, and become GMail "customers". People interested in music come to Google+, discuss music, learn about YouTube, and become YouTube "customers". And so on.

And as the communities expand, other Google services get additional "customers".

Google is more than any competing business.

Both FaceBook, SoundCloud, and WordPress compete with Google, for their special niche in the Internet - but neither service can compete with the entire Google services suite. And Google+ is an essential part of the Google services suite.

With Google+ discontinued, everybody loses - including Google.

We'll endure, though. There are various other social networks available.

Get involved, please.

Do not go gentle.

A petition was started, yesterday. Sign the petition, please.

Rage, against the dying.

The Digital Revolution - Maybe!

2016-06-14T08:18:00.001-07:00

For the past year, I have been a customer of various convenience / fast food restaurants - and I have noted the elite customers using their smart phones to pay for their food / merchandise.

Recently, my bank added a "no contact needed" option on their ATMs, with advice that

You don't need your ATM Card any more - just wave your phone near the machine!

and I was properly motivated to add their app to my phone.

I next tried to use my phone to pay for my hamburger - but no good. The following day, I tried to pay for my coffee - and no good there, either.

Upon further research, I learned that

Each bank, restaurant, and store requires that you add their specific app to your phone.
Each bank, restaurant, and store requires that you setup an account with them.
Each bank, restaurant, and store requires that you pre load a balance, into your account that you just setup.

In other words, the digital revolution does not replace my ATM card, my cash, or my "credit" / "debit" card. It just gives me another account to host my funds - before I purchase food or merchandise.

There is no digital "wallet" - just a collection of tiny digital "coin purses". And the banks, restaurants, and stores are collecting interest on the floating funds, represented by the coin purses.

And as I add each app to my phone, I find the phone running slower and slower. And my "bank" account runs thinner and thinner.

Impressed - not.

On the other hand, I note a serious concern, with carrying my phone everywhere.

Combining Blogger And Twitter

2015-03-20T00:44:00.000-07:00

If you both publish a Blogger blog, and a Twitter TimeLine, you can combine the two.

You can publish your Blogger blog to your Twitter TimeLine - and you can publish relevant Twitter content, your own and others, on your Blogger blog.

Look at the sidebar here, for my Twitter gadgets, to see just two of many possibilities - if you are not using a mobile browser.

R.I.P., SiteMeter

2014-10-20T01:43:00.003-07:00

As I noted in my earlier Real Blogger Status post, I've always advocated use of redundancy in essential services - and that included using SiteMeter and StatCounter, in a complementary role of monitoring visitor activity, in my various blogs.

Unfortunately, SiteMeter has chosen to attach video advertisements to their blog / website click agents, which subjects each blog visitor randomly to having unwanted (and invisible) videos played, each time they click on a blog link. I consider this action truly unconscionable.

Not wishing to subject my visitors (if any of you remain my visitors) to intermittent CPU and bandwidth drain, and mysterious unwanted audio, when visiting my blogs, I am in the process of removing the SiteMeter agent from each blog.

My apologies to each of you, for this obnoxious commercial malfeasance.

Personal Cyber Warfare And Other Conflicts

2012-11-30T12:30:00.000-08:00

Before the Internet became a reality, most conflicts used to require physical proximity, to be considered seriously. Now that the Internet is part of our daily lives, many people who use the Internet, for various networking activities, have no idea of the possible challenges of Internet activities. With the Internet, conflicts can involve somebody in another city, state, or country, who is a complete stranger to the potential victim.

Many people, offended or threatened by an abusive comment or post in a Blogger / Google service, immediately report their concern to Blogger or Google, hoping that Google will obediently remove the offensive or threatening content. Not everybody realises that the varying nature of any given abuse, even when published in Google hosted space, won't always be the responsibility of Blogger / Google to provide action. Some conflict will require contact with somebody in your local area.

Some Internet based conflicts may take time and effort to resolve. The court system, which is currently based locally and nationally, may have to change as the Internet brings strangers, of different cultures and lands, together - and creates conflict.

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 or criminal issues, which must be decided by the courts system. Other legal conflict will involve various governmental agencies - differing from country to country.

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.

>> Top

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.