Google+ - The End Approaches

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.

The Digital Revolution - Maybe!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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"?

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?

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

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

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?

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

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

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.