TechLifeWeb

Yesterday, Google announced that you can now invite others to Google events. The idea is that doing this will let you all share on Google+ your photos and other event details. When you set up an event, an invitation goes to all who you have invited. A side effect of this is that when you get an invitation, even if you choose to ignore it, a place holder is put onto your Google Calendar. To me, my calendar is the hard landscape for what I am going to do. I don’t need to see these thing cluttering up my calendar.  Fortunately the fix is easy:

• Go to your Google Calendar and click the gear icon in the upper right and then click settings.
• Scroll way down until you come to “Automatically add invitations to my calendar”
• Select “ No, only show invitations to which I have responded”
• Click Save

The nice part is this is retroactive. So if you have a bunch of entries on there you haven’t responded to, they’ll all automatically disappear from your calendar when you set this up.

Recently I posted an article about a great extension for Google Chrome to share to Google+ from Google Reader.  Of course the downside here is not everyone uses Chrome.  I’ve figured out a way to work around that and let people share from any browser using the Chrome send to feature and a hack of the Google+ Mobile interface. It is easy to implement with just a minute or two of your time. Here is how to do it:

Log into Google Reader.

Click the gear icon in upper right corner
Click the send to tab
Click Create Custom Link
Fill in the fields like this:
Name: Google+
URL: https://m.google.com/app/plus/x/?content=${title}%20-%20${url}&v=compose&hideloc=1
Icon URL: http://ssl.gstatic.com/s2/oz/images/favicon.ico
Click Save

Now when you are reading an article in Google Reader and wish to send it to Google+, click the Send To link at the bottom of your article. A drop down will open showing Google+. Clicking that will open up a new tab showing the title and url of your article. You can edit the text and change who you are sharing with. By default, the sharing is public. Then click post.

Is it perfect? Well, like my share from anywhere bookmarklet, the good part is that it should work just fine whether you use Chrome, Firefox or even IE. Probably others too but I haven’t tested it. The caveat is that it uses the mobile version of Google+ which if you want to post publicly is easy but takes an extra step if you want to just post to some of your Circles. The mobile interface doesn’t post links as pretty as the native method but at least this saves you some time.

Edit 11OCT11: A site called HowToNew figured out a method to do this an instead use the native Google+ +1 interface.

If you use the following in your URL field, clicking on the link will +1 the article and give you the chance to share it with your circles. This is similar to +1 on a page on the web. It does open another window or tab.

https://plusone.google.com/_/+1/confirm?hl=en&url=${url}

So, now you have 2 choices!

I’ve started reading RSS feeds again.  Recently, most links and news I’ve been finding has been through social services like Twitter and Google+.  I decided to declare ‘RSS bankruptcy’. By this I mean I went to Google Reader,  deleted all the feeds I never read and marked everything as read. Blindly. Face it, life is too short to go in there and get all worried that you missed some scoop or something fascinating. If the news is that big, you’ll hear about it elsewhere.

I’m not sure what prompted my return to RSS but I can tell you what has helped a lot. It is no secret that I am a huge fan of Google+ and recently I started using an extension for Google Chrome that makes sharing within Google Reader a breeze. It is called RSS Share for Google Plus™ and Google Reader™.  It is great, but but I’m not a fan of the defaults.

Be default, the extension creates entries on the left side of your Google+ to your various Google Reader Feeds and shows the ones that have unread entries.  This lets you stay in Google+ and read new Google Reader entries as they come in.  Sounds great on the surface but I happen to like keeping all my feeds over in Reader and I think actually slows down and messes with the Google+ experience. Thankfully, this is an option you can  easily turn off.  To do that, click the wrench in the upper right of Chrome. Then go to Tools, then Extensions and find the RSS Share for Google Plus and Google Reader extension and click options. Deselect ‘Add Google Reader to Google+’ and ‘Show Read Items on Google+’.  After that, all the integration is over on the Google Reader side and nothing is messed with in your Google+ experience.

Now, when you go to your Google Reader, you’ll have a new option under each article called ‘Share on Google+’

Clicking that link with give you the standard sharing box you are used to if you use Google+.  The box appears in the upper right of your browser, lets you choose who you are sharing with and gives you to opportunity to add some text of your own.

Read more. Share more.

The other day i saw this article on The Next Web about adding a Google+ share icon to your WordPress blog.  It is based on the original article from Alex Moss.  The main limitation is that it uses the mobile version of Google+ to make it work. Not a big deal just not that pretty.

So I thought this is pretty handy and while WordPress is huge among bloggers, there are still tons of other sites and blogs that might want a sharing button.  Then I thought I could take it a step further and include a way to add attribution.

On Google+, you give someone attribution or address someone by putting a + in front of their name. For example +George Washington.  Google Plus then turns these into links and notifies the person they have been mentioned in a post. The problem is, if you “+” some one that isn’t in one of your Circles it doesn’t always work. Unless you know the little known secret: you can “+” a user number and it should work everytime. This also ensures your are attributing the right +John Smith! My code below will take advantage of this feature since people outside of your circles could be sharing from your site.

So, how do you get your user number? Just go to Google Plus and click on your profile. Your user number is that big bunch of numbers up in your url

right after plus.google.com.
Below is the code to place anywhere in your site where you want the share button to show up.

Note: If you want to use attribution, replace the numbers after via + with the numbers from YOUR user number. Be sure to leave the “+” there!

If you do NOT want to use attribution, delete everything between the quotes after attrib=. So it should read: attrib=’ ‘

<a href=”javascript:var d=document,w=window,attrib=’ via +123456789012345678901‘,e=w.getSelection,k=d.getSelection,x=d.selection,s=(e?e():(k)?k():(x?x.createRange().text:0)),f=’https://m.google.com/app/plus/x/’,l=d.location,e=encodeURIComponent,u=f+’?content=’+e(d.title)+e(‘ – ‘)+e(l.href)+e(attrib)+’&v=compose&hideloc=1′;a=function(){if(!w.open(u,’gplusshare’,'toolbar=0,resizable=1,scrollbars=1,status=1,width=450,height=295′))l.href=u;};if (/Firefox/.test(navigator.userAgent)) setTimeout(a, 0); else a();void(0)”><img class="scale-with-grid" src=”http://dl.dropbox.com/u/118970/plus-share.png” width=”55″ height=”22″ alt=”Share this post on Google+” title=”Share this post on Google+”></a>

Here is the same code in a text file that should make it easier to use since these kinds of things with quotation marks can get confused by browsers.  share.txt

You shoud be able to use this code on any site that lets you add html. Google may have something else in the works to make this easier. But for now, this should fill the gap.

I’ve been spending more of my on-line time on Google+.  I love it because people share great things and it is really easy to add new great people to follow.

One wish I have is to have it be even easier to share things that I find around the web. Google has made it easy for sites to add a +1 button but it isn’t exactly easy to share content. It isn’t to copy a URL and paste it into Google+ but come on, shouldn’t computers help us out here?

To that end, I have put together this bookmarklet to make sharing easier.

If you aren’t familiar with bookmarklets, they are links you add to your browser’s Bookmarks Toolbar. The idea is that you save the link below to your bookmark bar or favorites. Then when you are out on the web and want to share a page with your Google+ followers, you click the link in your bookmarks and it will grab the title and URL of your page, open a new window and let you compose a post to Google+.

Is it perfect? The good part is that it should work just fine whether you use Chrome, Firefox or even IE. Probably others too but I haven’t tested it. The caveat is that it uses the mobile version of Google+ which if you want to post publicly is easy but takes an extra step if you want to just post to some of your Circles.

How to get the bookmarklet

First be sure that your Bookmarks bar is turned on (see below if not)

Drag this link: Share to G+ up to your Bookmarks Toolbar.

UPDATE 29OCT11: New version! See the update at the end of this post.

A note about Bookmarklets in Chrome: Seems there is a bug in Google Chrome that doesn’t automatically set the title of a bookmarklet so you just get the default icon. The icon will work just fine but if you want a title next to it so you remember what the link does, simply right-click on the icon in your bookmark bar and click edit. Add a name like “Share to G+” (without the quotes) and then click OK. Update 29oct11: Since the original post, Google has fixed this issue.

How to turn on the bookmark bar in various browsers
To turn on the Bookmark Bar in Chrome:

• Click the wrench icon on the browser toolbar.
• Select Bookmarks.
• Select Always show bookmarks bar.
• (or ctrl+shift+B)

To turn on the Bookmarks Toolbar in Firefox:

• On the menu bar, click View, select Toolbars, and then select Bookmarks Toolbar.

To turn on the Links bar in IE:

• On the menu bar, click View, select Toolbars, and then select Links.
• Note: in IE, it might be easier for you to right-click on the link above and then select ‘Add to Favorites’. Then in the dialog that pops up, choose the links folder.

Usage
When you are on a page and you click the bookmarklet you will see this screen. See the notes on it for more information:

UPDATE 29OCT11: New version does a +1 and Share using the interface well are all used to in Google+! Now your shares don’t look like they are coming from the mobile interface. Drag this one to your toolbar:
+Share on G+

I’m using Google+ quite a bit lately so I forget to look at Facebook and see my friends’ birthdays. Even if you aren’t using Google+, calendars are great for planning upcoming events and Facebook doesn’t put upcoming birthdays in a nice calendar format. Fortunately Facebook provides us with a link usingthe webcal standard allow you to bring all your friends’ birthdays into Google Calendar. I’m focusing on Google Calendar here but same techniques should work for other programs such as Apple iCal and Microsoft Outlook.

First, log on to Facebook and click Events.

Next, at the bottom of the Events page, click on the Birthdays link.

A page showing all your Friends and their birthdays will show up. Scroll all the way to the bottom and click Export Birthdays.
A dialog box will pop up showing the webcal address to all the birthdays. Right click on the link and click Copy Link Address (different but similar wording in IE or Firefox).

Next, go to Google Calendar and the bottom of the left hand column click Add. Then Add by URL.

In the dialog that pops up, paste in the webcal URL you copied in the previous step. Then click Add Calendar.

After a pause of a few seconds or so you should see a new calendar called Friends Birthdays in your list of calendars on the right. You can page through your calendar and you should see all your friends and the day they were born. You can click on the colored drop down to the right of the calendar name to customize the colors or hide.

That’s it! Now if you want another calendar for you Facebook events, go back to Facebook and use the same process except use the export link at the bottom of the Events page.

When you are brand new to a service it is nice to have someone guide you along. Here are a few great resources to get you started with Google+.

First, if you haven’t seen it, Google’s own video that gives an intro to Circles is worth a watch.

Next, have a look at their video about Hangouts

Now if you are ready to jump in, you need these excellent cheat sheets developed by Simon Laustsen

• I’m gathering tips in Evernote here: http://bit.ly/googleplustips
• Here is a good post on configuring your Circles for privacy: Five Steps to Configuring Privacy on Google+
• If you use the Google Chrome browser I highly recommend the Replies and More extension. It adds some subtle changes to the page that make it more functional like being able to reply right to someone without having to type their name.
• Another Chrome must have is the Surplus extension.  It gives you notifications but the main thing is that it lets you share very easily from any site. Note 10MAR2012: I no longer use the Surplus Extension. I recommend Share on Google Plus Page that lets you share to your profile or any of the pages you manage.
• New 10Mar2012: I’ve also been using Golden View for Google+ for a long time. I has some nice features like User Mute and Default Circle.
• If you want an easy way to search Google+, you can try this search engine for Google+:  http://bit.ly/searchgplus
• Andrew Shotland has a HUGE list of tips here: http://www.localseoguide.com/google-plus-shortcuts-tips/

Twitter users:

If you want to make your Google+ profile show up if someone searches for your Twitter name:

• On the Google+ home page, click on your name (left side next to your picture)
• Click Edit Profile
• Scroll way down until you see Other Names
• Click Other Names to bring up the edit box and enter your Twitter handle there.
• Optionally set who can see this. I’d set it to Anyone on the Web because anyone could find out anyway but you may have different ideas.
• If you are done editing your profile, click Done Editing at the top of the screen
• Tip: While you are on the profile screen you can go to ‘View Profile As’ which is really handy to be sure you are sharing what you think you are sharing.