TechLifeWeb

In August I heard through some friends that NASA would be inviting a group of people involved in social media to Edwards AFB to welcome space shuttle Endeavour to California for the last leg of its journey to LAX. In order to take part there would be a kind of lottery or raffle. I filled out the form online, clicked send and then basically forgot about it. A few weeks later I received the confirmation email from NASA Social that I had been chosen for the event! There would only be 40 of us chosen from over 2000 entries.

I had been to Edwards once before, in April, 1981 for STS 1, the first landing of a space shuttle on its return from space. That was Columbia and that day has always been one of the exciting high points in life. So getting to see Endeavour and the last ferry flight of a shuttle feels like I have come full circle with the shuttle program. This time, however, I would be getting much closer to the shuttle then that day when I was part of the public viewing area a lonnnng way away from the runway.

The 747 carrier aircraft with Endeavour ridding piggyback was originally scheduled for arrival in California on Wednesday, September 19th. Unfortunately there was some weather systems in the southeast that prevented the ferry flight from leaving Florida on time. The NASA Social team decided we would continue with our original schedule for the NASASocial meet up at Edwards. We would all get to spend Wednesday learning what NASA does at Dryden Flight Research and then see the landing on Thursday. If our plans allowed, we were invited to come back on Friday to watch the take off.

It was an amazing 3 days of getting behind-the -scenes views at Dryden, standing a stones throw from the runway for the arrival and departure and of course making lots of new friends with fellow space geeks. These were some of the most amazing public days I’ve had since the Navy brought me and a seven other bloggers for a ride under the waves on the USS Hampton.

Here’s a slideshow:

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.

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.

It is no secret that I love Evernote.  I use it to keep track or and remember all kinds of things. On of my favorite things to do is come up with new ways to use it.  Having that secret email address is a wonderful thing and makes it dead simple to save off link shares from Google+. You may not  yet be using Google+ but you will be soon so here is how to get this done:

• Open Evernote and click Tools –> Account Info
• Here you will see your special evernote email address, copy it down (hint: right click on it and click copy)
• Now go to Google+ and, under ‘In your Circles’ on the right, click ‘view and edit’
• Click on the first circle on the left to create a new one
• Name your Circle Evernote or some other short name
• Click ‘Create Circle with 1 member’

Now, when ever you want to save something to Evernote you simply share it with that one Circle.  This has the side benefit of also having all these articles in your Evernote Circle on Google+ kind of like a bookmark but also letting you share them with your larger audience after you read the article and find it worth sharing.

I could do a post on all the tips and things I am learning about Google Plus but, especially since this is a brand new service, they are coming in way too fast.  For now you can see my ever expanding list via my shared Evernote Notebook at the link below:

Sharing my Google+ tips as I collect them here:
http://www.evernote.com/pub/skingery/googleplusnotesandtips

If you have any of your own tips, add them in the comments and I’ll update the notebook.

Here is a video from Google demoing their new +1 button. Will you be putting it on your sites? Learn more at http://google.com/+1button

The Egyptian authorities have blocked internet access and text messaging after a video of man shot by brutal police force was posted on Youtube, but it didn’t stop Egyptian internet users from posting about the escalating situation in Cairo. While Twitter and Facebook are being blocked, many users are bypassing the block through proxy servers and third-party applications like TweetDeck and Hootsuite.

via Egyptians are Bypassing Internet Shutdown – US News Source.

Lifehacker is also keeping a list of ways Egyptians can get on the net.  Everything from old school dial up and DSL to TOR.  Have a read here:

http://lifehacker.com/5746046/how-to-foil-a-nationwide-internet-shutdown

For a long time I have had my 5 Point Twitter Fail plan as the background on my Twitter profile. I used to have it in my bio but I decided to put it there because I wanted to be sure it was visible even if you just linked to one of my tweets.

Today I decided to print them here because it is time more people paid attention to them.

5-Point Twitter Fail Plan

1. Be all about you

2. Auto-post crap

3. Talk only about SEO, social media, etc.

4. Be non-human

5. Care less

Yes, number 5 is 2 words.