CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-19 03:48:41 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

OK, is it just me, or did they make a change to the way text is being displayed?

I'm seeing posts in the stream that have every line displayed next to posts with 3 lines displayed. What's going on here?

2013-05-19 01:53:15 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Protip: Incorporating Google+ photos into your Blogger blog posts

I've been blogging more regularly lately and since most of my current photos are in the Google+/Picasa system now, I've been looking for ways to more easily add them to my blog posts. 

As you probably know, you can insert photos from the Compose window, but I find that the choices they give you for widths aren't as flexible as I'd like. The alternative is to work in the HTML window, but as you're writing your blog post, it can get confusing and messy, and you have to remember to put <br />'s in everywhere to space things out properly.

So here's what I do instead:

First, I write my blog post in the Compose window. Wherever I plan to put a photo, I just write 'insert photo here' and I put spaces around that notation using the... more »

2013-05-18 21:35:28 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

Protip: Incorporating Google+ photos into your Blogger blog posts

I've been blogging more regularly lately and since most of my current photos are in the Google+/Picasa system now, I've been looking for ways to more easily add them to my blog posts. 

As you probably know, you can insert photos from the Compose window, but I find that the choices they give you for widths aren't as flexible as I'd like. The alternative is to work in the HTML window, but as you're writing your blog post, it can get confusing and messy, and you have to remember to put <br />'s in everywhere to space things out properly.

So here's what I do instead:

First, I write my blog post in the Compose window. Wherever I plan to put a photo, I just write 'insert photo here' and I put spaces around that notation using the... more »

2013-05-18 20:46:27 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 8 +1s)

2013-05-18 19:02:15 (9 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

Since the Blogger share puts such a tiny photo up, I'm resharing this one. You know, just in case you want to actually see it.

http://pmc.titus.bz for more.

2013-05-18 18:55:11 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Overcast day, so not great for pictures, but nice and cool for riding. We did a 19.9 mile loop and I must say it felt pretty good. 

A couple of photos at the blog, including this old stone barn. If I win Powerball tonight, I promise to buy this and restore it to its former glory.

#pmc2013   #panmasschallenge   #buckscounty  

Donate now: bit.ly/pmc_brian

2013-05-18 15:16:25 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 10 +1s)

A trip to the farmer's market yielded some fresh catnip. Mel may have overindulged...

#caturday #mel #ned

2013-05-17 22:05:43 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 8 +1s)

2013-05-17 21:16:08 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

Trying out a little harness for #Ned -- he has been so focused on the outdoors lately. He's constantly trying to squeeze out the back door and run into the yard. Maybe we can get him used to being outside so it's not such an obsession.

2013-05-17 12:59:44 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

Bucks County, PA.

More here: http://pmc.titus.bz

2013-05-17 12:38:05 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

SRSLY?

What is with this hideous fake italic Google? Do you not want us to use it anymore?

2013-05-17 11:53:14 (21 comments, 1 reshares, 6 +1s)

Probably one of the most thoughtful essays I've read about the real issues that Glass will surface.

Today we assume that our conversations and our image is not by default recorded by other people in proximity. Not having a persistent record allows us to present a nuanced identity to different people, or groups of people, provides with the space to experiment with what we could be. The risk that what we say will be broadcast, narrowcasted to people we don’t know, or may underpin someone’s future business fundamentally changes what we want to talk about. The challenge for Glass is that the costs of ownership falls on people in proximity of the wearer, and that its benefits have yet to be proven out.

Aside: although Medium seems promising, they really need to implement search. I read this article the other day, and then almost could not find it again.

2013-05-16 22:06:47 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Here it is, our (possibly) final ride of Staycation2013! Well, we may do a short ride tomorrow if we're up to it, but who knows, this could be our final adventure with sis-in-law Carol until we hit the PMC together in August.

Much, much warmer than our previous rides, it felt pretty much like a regular summer ride. See the post for more photos and details. I promise to back off the Picasa filters in the future. (yeah, right!).

Thanks for reading, hope you've enjoyed our week off as much as we have!
  
#panmasschallenge   #pmc2013      #buckscounty   #lumberville  

Donate now: bit.ly/pmc_brian

2013-05-16 21:07:10 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

Staycation V ride preview -- 40 miles: to Lumberville and back again.

Blog post coming soon, until then, enjoy this lovely house of Lumberville, PA.

#buckscounty   #lumberville  

2013-05-16 14:25:53 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

The one place where multi-column, pinterest style display makes great sense is in search results. Because that's just where I do want to have posts competing for my attention.

2013-05-16 14:22:00 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Is there a way we could tag-bomb all #throughglass  posts so they automatically receive #peacock  as a tag too? That would be fun.

2013-05-16 12:44:56 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

This animated compose box is the dumbest thing I've ever seen. You click inside a text box, but surprise, it's not a text box! The whole thing is just a button that launches an animation that brings you the actual text box! Auto-awesome!

Required photo: bacon

2013-05-16 11:47:14 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

So the people who named the "auto-awesome" feature have a highly developed sense of irony, right?

Note: required photo has nothing to do with this post.

2013-05-16 11:06:42 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

So they combined Talk and Hangouts apparently. 

I use(d) Talk to chat with family only, from phone to tablet to PC. So, I limited who appeared in Talk by using a special circle. Now that talk and hangout are combined, I've lost that organization. 

I've done one, maybe two hangouts in my whole G+ career. The person who I did that hangout with is now at the top of the hangout list. Perfect.

2013-05-16 00:15:37 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

I have a feeling this new interface is going to absolutely kill my Atom-powered Netbook. That's a minus.

2013-05-15 23:34:12 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Yikers. Single column = useless on big monitor.

2013-05-15 23:29:59 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Since the share directly from Blogger just made a small image, I thought I'd reshare this on its own. Maybe it will hog up your whole monitor!

Blog post here:
pmc.titus.bz

2013-05-15 23:18:39 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Warning -- remember that bug where you would be typing a giant comment in the notification drop down and it would roll-up on you and swallow your comment? Yeah, it's back.

2013-05-15 23:05:58 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

OK, so they've added the ability to add photos from "Your Google+ photos" to posts. But when you do that, it wants you to create and name another album?? Wha...?

2013-05-15 23:00:11 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

Pretty sure this will get lost in the new clutter of G+, but here's a blog post about our "rest day." A visit to the Barnes Foundation in downtown Philly. Back in the saddle tomorrow for a 40-miler!

#pmc   #panmasschallenge   #philadelphia   #barnesfoundation  

Donate now: bit.ly/pmc_brian

2013-05-15 21:32:23 (12 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

Yikers. Single column = useless on big monitor.

2013-05-15 21:07:03 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

Welcome to Pinterest.

2013-05-15 17:29:06 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

At the Barnes Foundation this afternoon.

Interestingly, the audio tour is a free app on the play store. Check it out and you'll learn how amazing this collection is.

2013-05-15 11:53:52 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

What? More Staycation fun? Why yes of course, it's our "day 3," all laid out for you on the blog, in words and pictures. 

Tomorrow's a "rest day" and we'll be doing some fun things in Philly to fill up our day.

Thanks for reading!

#pmc2013   #panmasschallenge   #buckscounty  

Donate now: bit.ly/pmc_brian

2013-05-14 22:47:38 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 1 +1s)

What? More Staycation fun? Why yes of course, it's our "day 3," all laid out for you on the blog, in words and pictures. 

Tomorrow's a "rest day" and we'll be doing some fun things in Philly to fill up our day.

Thanks for reading!

#pmc2013   #panmasschallenge   #buckscounty  

Donate now: bit.ly/pmc_brian

2013-05-14 12:46:04 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

New blog post from day 2 of our fabulous "staycation!"

It was frickin' freezing Monday, and seems like this morning is even colder! Hello, isn't it May?

Even with my poor frozen fingers, I managed to take a few photos for your enjoyment.

Today we're off to Lambertville for some breakfast & sightseeing, then an afternoon ride.

#pmc2013   #panmasschallenge   #buckscounty  

Donate now: bit.ly/pmc_brian

2013-05-13 17:35:17 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Staycation Day 2 Preview: Get to the fence everybody, they're giving away free carrots!

Blog post to follow later today.

2013-05-13 13:24:40 (14 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Good morning, all!

First of all my apologies for having notified you. Let me explain:

I have been noticing for a while now that I don't see as many posts as I should see, given that I have 415 people in my circles. I checked this this morning. I saw the same ol' posts that I had plussed hours ago after maybe 5 new posts. Given that G+ is the home of people from all over the world where in every hour at least someone is awake and posting on G+, there should be a high influx of new posts every minute or so.

I went to the profiles of some of you and noticed there that, depending on how prolific a poster you are, I only saw every 3rd to 5th post of you, and as the circles are sorted by relevancy (not mine obviously), the profiles I have checked out so far are only the ones of the people on the top of my biggest circle. I will continue to visit your profiles, each... more »

2013-05-12 22:37:26 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Our Staycation/training week begins! Check out the blog for the details. Today was an easy ride just to get my sister-in-law Carol acclimated to the roads of Bucks County. Tomorrow we have 20+ miles and a big climb!

#pmc2013   #panmasschallenge   #buckscounty  

Donate now: bit.ly/pmc_brian

2013-05-11 21:58:58 (17 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

Google voice, Google contacts, Circles, Gmail -- what a disaster.

Why would anyone think it's a good idea to merge circles, groups, and contacts across these products? Check out this cheerful instruction:

Use Google+ Circles to manage contacts

You can also manage your callers by using Google+ Circles in Google Voice. You can customize call settings for people in each of your Google+ Circles the same way you customize using Groups in Google Voice.

If you have a person in more than one Group or Google+ Circle and these groups and/or circles have different calling settings (ex. you have one caller in a group that goes straight to voicemail, and this same caller is also in a Google+ Circle that you have set to ring your cell phone), Google Voice won't know which setting to apply. You'll need to edit the custom settings for this individual... more »

2013-05-11 11:06:43 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 11 +1s)

Sometimes Ned likes to watch TV with us.

#ned #caturday

2013-05-09 23:16:05 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

"When they write the history of how cancer was conquered, the Pan-Mass Challenge will be in chapter one." —  Edward J. Benz Jr., MD, president of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

(donation link: http://bit.ly/pmc_brian)

Dear Friends,
This August I'll be riding in my 4th Pan-Mass Challenge, alongside my wife Janet, her sister Carol, and 5,500 other cyclists. Over 2 days we'll ride from Wellesley to Provincetown, raising money for life-saving care and research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

I've been sharing my story on Google+ and the response has been amazing. Never before have I had such support from the world of social media. It speaks very highly of the caring and generous spirit of the many people I've met in my short time here.

I hope you will follow along on my training and fundraising journey this summer, as I work topu... more »

2013-05-09 22:12:13 (8 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

Get Your Guts In Gear
An #IBD  Event I Need Your Help With

As most of you know, my oldest son Domenic, who is 8 years old, has Crohn's Disease. Just over a year ago I decided to become an advocate for #IBD , #Crohns , and #Colitis . Instead of basing my advocacy around raising money for research I felt strongly that we needed to raise the level of education around the disease. My advocacy has been growing stronger and stronger each day and I feel we are raising the level of education and working towards the ultimate goal of making IBD, Crohn's, and Colitis a household name. 

Unfortunately, education alone isn't going to bring a cure for this disease. Research must be done in order to find new medical procedures and medications that will help Domenic plus the 4 million people worldwide that have this disease.

From June 7th until June 9thI... more »

2013-05-09 16:11:54 (5 comments, 3 reshares, 3 +1s)

If you’re using it recreationally, not professionally to complete a task, don’t kid yourself — it’s not enhancing your life. It’s robbing you of the joy of actually experiencing your life.

I was wondering when we'd get the first counterpoint from an owner. For a while now I've been thinking about Glass in the way she's described it, but it's good to see someone with the device do the writing. Also, I've been considering doing the same thing she writes in closing: And train yourself to rely less on your smartphone, while you’re at it.

2013-05-08 20:25:55 (15 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

At summer cheer camp, Kieara and other cheerleaders decided to inscribe religious messages on run-through banners — the 30-foot-wide, 10-foot-high paper signs that football players burst through as they enter the field. Rather than the typical slogans reading “Scalp the Indians” or “Pluck the Eagles” that they considered too negative, they came up with what they felt were more inspiring phrases. The first one read: “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.”

W - T - F
How does anyone not see this as completely inappropriate for a public school?

2013-05-08 18:55:56 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Woah... this looks very cool, for the GTI.

bit.ly/12VZTnp

#VW #GTI  

2013-05-07 19:46:25 (27 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

US gun deaths way down. Most think it's gone up. Thanks, alarmist media!

A new Pew study found US gun homicide rates have dropped by half since 1993, yet a majority of Americans think gun deaths have gone up. 

I think that's generally true of many things -- life keeps getting safer, better and generally more awesome, yet everyone thinks it's getting worse. 

("Everything is amazing and nobody is happy." - Louis C.K.)

Maybe the solution is to shoot our TVs.

http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/05/07/gun-homicide-rate-down-49-since-1993-peak-public-unaware/

2013-05-07 11:19:50 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

I think Glass is going to tank in a big way. However, this article is clearly a case of NYTimes outsourcing the writing to Reddit and Social Media. It's just a regurgitation of things we've been discussing for months here, with nothing new and no insight added. The Adria Richards thing at the end might have been a jumping off point to really discuss the issues a Glass future might bring, but it was treated so cursorily and incompletely, that they might as well not have even brought it up.

2013-05-06 10:42:01 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Hey everyone, it's my blog post for our "Anniversary Weekend" rides. Have a look at some of the fine scenery here in beautiful Bucks County, PA. And please try not to snicker at our average speed!

Thanks for reading -- I really appreciate your support.

Donate now: bit.ly/pmc_brian

#pmc2013   #panmasschallenge   #dfci   #buckscounty  

2013-05-06 01:08:29 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

I'm finding this idea more and more intriguing. There is no way I can give up the power of a full Windows machine for an Android or Apple tablet. Like my N7, but it sure would be nice to collapse tablet, laptop, and desktop into a single machine.

2013-05-05 20:58:01 (5 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

Hey everyone, it's my blog post for our "Anniversary Weekend" rides. Have a look at some of the fine scenery here in beautiful Bucks County, PA. And please try not to snicker at our average speed!

Thanks for reading -- I really appreciate your support.

Donate now: bit.ly/pmc_brian

#pmc2013   #panmasschallenge   #dfci   #buckscounty  

2013-05-05 19:48:40 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

Sunday -- our wedding anniversary -- ride preview. 38 miles on a beautiful, crisp day. Blog post covering the weekend's rides coming soon.

Photo: Janet contemplates the ride through "Peddler's Village" in Lahaska, PA. Little did she know we'd have to negotiate our way around so many cross-walk-owning pedestrians.

#buckscounty  

2013-05-05 12:06:55 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 18 +1s)

You may call it Cinco de Mayo, but we like to call it our wedding anniversary!

5/5/2007
J & B, Newtown, PA

2013-05-05 02:01:28 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

"How many Bostonians wished they had a gun two weeks ago?" LaPierre asked in a speech at the National Rifle Association's annual convention in Houston.

I can think of two for sure, last name Tsarnaev.

2013-05-04 19:49:06 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Preview from today's ride. Beautiful day here in #buckscounty.

Blog post to follow later.