As well all grow increasingly involved in online communities and social media, we expose ourselves and our families to more and more people, in more and more ways. While this is fun, entertaining, and even builds real connections, some caution is recommended. As with any strangers, be aware of danger!
What’s at Risk?
Identity theft is usually the first risk that comes to mind when discussing online safety. Identity theft is a major concern and can lead to disastrous ripple effects. This is not at all the only risk present though. You could also go the TMI route and cause problems at work or for future jobs.
Stay Safe Out There!
Follow these ten privacy tips and you will have a safer experience online using social media.
Nom de Plume - For purely social interactions, such as on FaceBook or Twitter, there is no good reason to use your legal name. Your friends all know your nickname, so why not use that? Using a legal full name is an invitation for criminals to see you as ripe for the picking.
Address Unknown - Never post your address publicly online. Really, why would you need to? PM, baby, PM!
App Aversion - Avoid the social media apps as much as you can. They notoriously offer some cute game in exchange for the data they mined from you. All that risk for crushed candy?
Nothing to See Here - No nudity, okay? Not even a nip slip. Just don’t do it. And limit the crazed party shots too, drunky!
The Separation of Work & Friends - Try not to hook up with your co-workers on non-career oriented social media. It is all too likely that things will overlap, possibly causing some awkwardness for you. Nudge, nudge, know what I mean?
What’s the Password? - This is the best online safety tip that there is, and the most frequently ignored admonishment as well. Choose good passwords, and change them often. The definition of good is probably best chosen by a random password generator. Often. Just do it.
Do Not Trust, Verify - As you go around social media you may see things that are almost too good to be true, that is because they are. Do not trust who you meet, what you read, offers to buy, and more, without verifying the source and the information.
On Vacation - Stop telling the internet when you are leaving for vacation and your house will be conveniently open to thieves!
No Children Allowed - And keep your kids off of most social media too. These last two tips are just so obvious, but...
Privacy Settings, Use ‘Em - When all else fails, read the instructions.
Lock Up!
The dangers you face online using social media are very real. But most of these dangers can be avoided entirely, or at the very least lessened significantly. If you batten down the hatches and take some precautionary steps, you’ll be fine out there.
Author Bio: Sara Xiang searches for homes in lake Tahoe online when she's able to spend a little time dreaming about her future life.
Google used its annual conference for software developers to unveil several new products, services and features. They include enhancements for online games, maps, search, music and photos and are meant to help the company cement its role in people's technological lives.
Here's a look at some of the announcements made at Wednesday's keynote at Google I/O.
Music streaming
All Access will blend songs you have already uploaded to your online libraries with millions of other tracks for a $10 monthly fee. This puts Google in competition with paid subscription plans such as Spotify and Rhapsody and free music services such as Pandora.
All Access became available in the U.S. on Wednesday and comes with a 30-day free trial. If you start the trial by June 30, the monthly fee drops to $8. That's $2 cheaper than leading competing plans. It is expected to roll out soon in 12 other countries where Google currently sells music - 10 European countries such as the U.K., France and Germany, as well as Australia and New Zealand.
The new service will allow you to search for songs, albums or artists directly, or peruse 22 different genres. Google curators will also offer recommendations based on your listening behavior and your existing library of songs. You can listen to any available song right away, or switch to a "radio" format that creates a playlist of songs that you might like. Radio playlists can be adjusted on the fly by deleting or re-ordering upcoming songs. Google describes all of this as "radio without rules."
By combining an unlimited-access subscription plan with music sold through Google's online Play store, All Access covers any gaps. Some artists, including Taylor Swift, keep recent releases away from streaming services for several months in order to boost download sales. All three major recording labels - Vivendi's Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group Corp. - are participating in All Access.
Google+
Google is adding 41 features to its Google Plus social network as it tries to turn it into a more formidable threat to Facebook. The new features started appearing Wednesday and draw upon the computing power, algorithms and other innovations that have made Google the leader in search.
A new photo-management tool will pick out the best shots from a wide assortment of photos. Just upload a bunch, and Google's machines will reject ones that are blurry or don't have people smiling. Another factor is Google's knowledge of who's important to you - so family members or close friends are more likely to make the cut.
If the photos don't look quite right, Google is promising to enhance them, taking over a job that typically requires people to buy and master special photo-editing software. Computer-controlled editing tools will automatically remove red eyes, soften skin tones, sharpen colors and adjust contrast. Google offers something similar through an "I'm Feeling Lucky" button on its Picasa editing software.
Another feature promises to stitch together a sequence of photos taken of the same group of people or a panoramic scene. This stitching system can be used to create a single photo that pulls the best shots of everyone featured in a series of pictures. It will also produce an animated clip featuring the motions of people captured in a succession of photos taken against the same background.
Google is also expanding the storage limit for full-resolution photos. Instead of five gigabytes for free per account, you'll get 15 gigabytes.
Other enhancements to Google Plus include a newly designed stream of content, which moves away from the list of posts found on Facebook. It will also automatically add hash tags to identify the main topic being discussed in a post or featured in a photo, and it will use those tags to bring you related posts. Facebook doesn't use hash tags, though Twitter and Instagram do.
Online games
Google is adding leaderboards and the ability to match players in online games to its Android operating system for smartphones and tablet computers. The new features match those available in Apple's Game Center for the iPhone and iPad. Google is also making it possible to save game progress online, so players can pick up games where they left off, even on other devices.
Getting into gaming gives Google an opportunity to participate in one of the most popular activities on mobile devices.
Google says the leaderboards will also be available through a browser on regular computers. Apple's Game Center works on Mac computers, too.
Maps, Search and Chat
Google introduced new features for its mapping apps on Android devices and iPhones. When you search for restaurants in a city or neighborhood, you'll get the names of the restaurants along with their ratings at the bottom of the screen. You can swipe through the results horizontally. The mapping app will also include Google Offers - deals akin to those from Groupon Inc. and LivingSocial.
Google is making images from its Google Earth service available on the Web browser. Before, you had to install separate software to use Google Earth. One feature demonstrated Wednesday is the ability to see a view of earth from space and rotate it around.
Google Maps on the Web also has a new look, taking up the entire screen. Names of destinations that used to be on the left of the map are being embedded on the map itself.
For mobile devices, Google is optimizing its mapping app for tablet computers such as the iPad. That will allow the app to take advantage of the larger screen. It's expected this summer.
Google will integrate what it knows about users with its search function, so it can reply to questions like "What's my gate number?" or "my restaurant reservation." Google already makes this available through its Google Now service on Android devices, iPhones and iPads. Now, it's available to anyone using its Chrome browser on traditional computers.
Meanwhile, Google is streamlining its communications tools, offering a new app to combine its chat and Hangout services. It keeps a record of past conversations, though there's a way to turn that off. It will be available for Android and Apple devices, as well as regular Web browsers on computers. The new application is called Hangouts.
New phone
A variant of Samsung Electronics Co.'s Galaxy S4 phone will run a pure version of Android. That's the version that Google makes and distributes, not the one modified by Samsung to include a host of features that have been dismissed as confusing gimmicks in reviews by The Associated Press and others.
The new phone will be unlocked, meaning it will work with any carrier, including those abroad. But it also means the price won't be subsidized by the carrier. Google will sell it for $649 starting June 26, rather than the usual $200 or so with a two-year contract. Google says that the new phone will be able to get Android updates as they come. U.S. carriers sometimes block those updates from getting to locked phones.
Developer Tools
Google unveiled a number of tools that software developers could incorporate into their apps.
One will allow apps to track what users are doing, such as walking. It may appear creepy to users, but Android executive Hugo Barra says the tools will allow developers to create "a whole new category of awesome apps."
Another tool will help software developers make sure their apps work well on different screen sizes. That's important because some people use phones and others use mid-size or larger tablets. Developers will want to make sure their apps are pleasant across the board.
Other tools promise to help developers get more users and make more money through their apps, such as by better understanding how effective their ads are in getting people to download their apps.
Some of the new tools will help Android users directly. With new technology for syncing notifications on different devices, a notification you dismiss on a phone won't reappear when you check your tablet. Google also says its Google Play store will make recommendations for apps, books, movies and music based on the device you are using. After all, what works well on a tablet might not on a phone.
Schools
Google Play for Education, launching this fall, is designed to help get Android tablets into schools. One feature will allow educators to distribute an app to hundreds of tablets with a single click. Schools will able to pay for apps by charging against an account set up ahead of time. Normally, a credit card is required, something difficult for schools to use for purchases.
How to enable Google+ Comments for your Blogger blog?
Goto Blogger dashboard
If you haven’t upgraded your Blogger profile to a Google+ profile and would like to do now, you can start the process by clicking the Google+ tab on the Blogger dashboard.
Once your blogs linked to a Google+ profile, a new setting's will be displayed on the Google+ tab of your blog.
Just check the "Prompt to share after posting" and "use on this blog" check boxes.
That's it you have successfully enabled Google+ comments for your blog.
If you are using custom template on your blog, Just follow the steps to add the Google+ Comments box widget in your template:
Go to blogger dasboard > Template > Edit HTML > Format Template and find the below code
Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee the experience with heavily customized templates.
Important Notes for Blog Authors from Google
1. What happens to existing comments when enable Google+ Comments?
If you use Blogger’s commenting platform, existing Blogger comments will stay on your blog, and you’ll continue to have the option to delete or mark them as spam.
If you use a third-party commenting system, such as Disqus or any other, sorry your comments will not be retained when you enable Google+ Comments.
2. What if readers does not have a Google+ profile or page? Can they still comment?
Sorry , your readers must have Google+ profile or page, when they attempt to comment.
3. How to Moderate Google+ Comments?
you can moderate comments within the blog post itself. The Comments tab that you previously used to moderate comments will be removed from your Blogger dashboard.
You can moderate comments by clicking on the drop-down arrow next to the comment, or by hovering over the comment and clicking the "X" that appears.
Automatically hide the spam comments, and you can review and edit them in bulk.
As a blog author, you can choose to remove comments from your blog if that comment is shared publicly, or with you. However, if that comment is also shared in Google+, you won’t be able to remove it from Google+.
Google launched Google+ Comments system for Blogger blogs, Google+ Comments is an alternative to the default commenting system on Blogger, available to blog authors who have upgraded their Blogger profile to Google+ Profile or Page. Google+ Comments look similar to traditional Blogger comments, but have some important differences.
Here the Complete Features of Google+ Comments
When you leave a comment on a blog, you'll see the option, checked by default, to also share that comment to Google+.
Google+ posts that link to blog posts will show up as a comment underneath those blog posts
If original comment is shared to Google+, replies to the comment on the blog will show up in Google+ and vice versa, but only to the people that the original comment was shared with
If a comment is not shared with the blog author, the blog author will not be able to see the comment in either location
As the author of a post, you’ll receive Google+ notifications when readers comment on or share your blog post. Source
Google officially rolled out an updated version of Google+ application for both the Android and iOS devices. This new version contains new features like photo filters, sharing your location with specific circles and Here’s a quick look at the improvements in four key areas: photos, posts, profiles and communities.
Photos: filters and edits from inside the app
Added some of Snapseed’s award-winning photo enhancements to the Google+iPhone app. So now, when you’re sharing a photo, you can:
Do basic edits like rotate and crop, as well as select filters like Drama and Retrolux
Adjust saturation, contrast, brightness and lots more by sliding your fingers up-and-down, then left-and-right
Single tap at any time to compare your creation with the original
Posts: see more and do more in less time Little things mean a lot, especially when it comes to content in the stream, the developer team polished lots of corners in Android update. For example:
Posts include more text up front - from the original message, and from comments
Tapping video, photo or link attachments takes you directly to a watch page, lightbox or website
Image previews are rarely cropped, so you’ll see portrait photos (for instance) in all their glory
Key actions like +1, reshare and comment are displayed more prominently in each post
You can swipe through photo albums inline
Profiles: share your current location with specific circles You have always been able to list the places you’ve lived, but now you can display / share your current location on your Google+ profile. Or not: it’s entirely up to you.
If you enable this option, you’ll then decide who can see your best-available location across Google
Like always, you can be as public or as private as you want to be
When someone with permission visits your profile, for example, they’ll see your current whereabouts underneath your name
Communities: more control while you are on the go Bring these improvements to iPhone and Android, including:
The ability to adjust the volume of community posts in your Home stream
The option to invite people to a community, or reshare items with a community
Member search, content moderation, and report-remove-ban support for community managers
Google finally released the Google+ Sign-In feature for websites and apps that allows you to sign-in in third party applications or websites. We all know that this is the feature already in famous social media giants Facebook and Twitter and now our search engine giant released this.
How to Uses this?
When you click on Google+ Sign-In in the websites or apps, It asks you to give permission to access your basic informations on Google+ account.
Click on Allow button, to sign-in in the website or apps.
Are this Feature is Safety?
This feature comes with familiar 2-step verification of Google It’s easier for you to sign in with your existing Google account than to create and remember details of a new account.
For Website/Apps Owners
Seeking an easier way to grow users with hassle-free, one-click sign-in? Google+ Sign-In increases conversions by reducing the burden and friction of login - particularly for mobile users - all while helping users keep their accounts more safe.
You can prompt users to sign in to Google not only at signup, but also when they return to your site, or any other time to take full advantage of your site’s social features. And, your users can connect their existing account on your service to Google even if they are already linked through another social service.
Google+ Sign-In mitigates data-breach risks and reduces the burden and costs of identity security. The Google authentication window creates a trusted link between you, your users, and their Google account.
With a user's permission, Google+ Sign-In lets you improve your service by giving you access to their basic information from their public profile and the list of people in their circles.
Allowing users to sign in with Google lets them select which identity they want to use in your app. By offering this choice, users are more likely to feel at ease with the decision to sign up for your service, improving conversions.
Having doubt in this? please dont hestitate to ask us, type your queries now in our comment section below. Thank you... Have a Nice day!
Google introduced Google+ Hangouts in 2011 and became a popular feature in Google+ is now available to all Gmail users in India.
Unlike the old video chat of Gmail which was based on peer-to-peer technology, Hangouts utilize the power of Google's network to deliver higher reliability and enhanced quality," said a Google blog post. "You'll be able to chat with all the people in your chat list that you did before and, in fact, with Hangouts you'll now be able to reach them not only when they are using Gmail but also if they are on Google+ in the browser or on their Android or iOS devices.
Hangouts for Gmail allows users to add up to 9 people to a voice chat. Using Hangouts, Gmail users can watch YouTube videos with their friends, collaborate on Google Docs, or play games by adding apps from a menu. You can also use virtual effects like pirate hats, moustaches, beards, halos and other personal decorations.
How to Start Google+ Hangouts
To begin using Google+ Hangouts, you have to click the Hangout button on the top of the chat list in Gmail. Users can also schedule a hangout using Google Calendar.
Now, Just relax and sit back and watch this video which explains every cool feature of Google+ Hangouts for Gmail.
Google hasn't been lazy at anytime with rolling out updates and improving the user experience on Gmail like this.
Google+ is a multilingual social networking and identity service owned and operated by Google Inc, now became the World's 2nd top in social network site. It has a total of 500 million registered users of whom 235 million are active on a monthly basis. How can we do more in Google+ without mouse, Here the complete list of shortcut keys in Google+.
Shortcut Keys and Actions: J is used for Goto Next Post on the stream K is used for Goto Previous Post on the stream N is used for Next comment on Current post O is used for Expand / Colopse Post P is used for Previous Comment on Current Post QQ is used for Pressing Q twice moves your cursor the search box in the 'chat' section R is used for Comment on Current Post / is used for Search ? is used for Open Shortcut help @ is used for Send feedback < is used for List pages (Enter opens selected page) Spacebar is used for Scroll down stream by regular intervals Spacebar + Shift is used for Scroll up stream by regular intervals Enter is used for Type a comment on selected post Tab + Enter is used for Submit a comment Formating Keys and Actions: * is used for *bold* letter _ is used for _Italic_ letter - is used for -Strikeout- word
Google starts to rolling out the Google+ custom URLs. There is nothing like a social networking URL involving more than 20 numbers to make a user yearn for something easier to remember. Specifically, companies and individuals using Google+ will soon be able to claim a custom URL for use instead of the long URL.
“Today we’re introducing custom URLs to make it even easier for people to find your profile on Google+”, said Google product manager Saurabh Sharma.
Current URLs are look like “https://plus.google.com/101743064150238728712” With a custom URL, however, users of the popular social network will be able to use a short, easy-to-remember Web address instead that will link directly to their profile or page on Google+.
“For instance, +TOYOTA can now use google.com/+toyota to unveil their latest models, +Britney Spears can share her upcoming appearances at google.com/+britneyspears, +Ubisoft can share game trailers and videos at google.com/+assassinscreed, and +Delta can help travelers find great deals at google.com/+delta”, Google product manager Sharma explained.
The new service will be available to corporate and individual users around the globe, but it's not open to everyone just yet.
To begin this, Google is rolling out custom URLs only to a limited set of verified profiles and pages now on Google+, the company explained on its own profile, which can now be found at google.com/+googleplus.
“While we're not quite ready for everyone to start claiming their own custom URLs, we plan to expand the availability over time,” it added.
There's no doubt avid individual users will benefit from easier-to-share profile addresses, but brands will surely appreciate the new service even more. If your company is on Google+, this will be an effort to watch closely so you can snag the URL you want.
Hangouts have been a popular feature on the Google+, which was launched in 2011. Now, Google is bringing the same feature to the Gmail, replacing the old Gmail video chat.
Unlike the old video chat of Gmail which was based on peer-to-peer technology, Hangouts utilize the power of Google's network to deliver higher reliability and enhanced quality," said a Google blog post. "You'll be able to chat with all the people in your chat list that you did before and, in fact, with Hangouts you'll now be able to reach them not only when they are using Gmail but also if they are on Google+ in the browser or on their Android or iOS devices.
Hangouts are superior in technology when compared to Gmail's old video chat and it is also more easier to add new users in meetings. If the user has both Gmail and Google+ profile they can be able to chat(Video chat) with upto nine people at the same time. They can also watch and share YouTube videos together, collaborate on Google Docs, and share their screen. You can also use virtual effects like pirate hats, moustaches, beards, halos and other personal decorations.
Google enhance hangouts feature in Gmail to users gradually. So you have to wait for this feature to your Gmail account.
Google hasn't been lazy with rolling out updates and improving the user experience on Gmail.
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