Google+ Sandeepa On Life: 2012

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Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Google Health Is Dead!

 If you have ever signed up for Google Health, you probably know that Google is shutting down it's Google Health service. So, you are left with a very few days to back up any data you may have in your Google Health account. I recently got an email from The Google Health Team and followed the instruction to download all my data and deleted my account. In this blog post I'll walk you through this process.

Here's the email I got.
This is an important Google Health service announcement. You are receiving this email because you have an active Google Health account.

As we announced in June, 2011, the Google Health service will be discontinued as of January 1, 2013. After that date, any remaining data in your Google Health account will be permanently deleted, and you will no longer be able to access or download any data from Google Health.

If you want to keep using the data you have stored in Google Health, you will need to take action before December 31st, 2012 to download it or transfer it to another online health service. We've made this easy for you. All you have to do is:
 - go to the Google Health site at https://health.google.com
 - log in with your Google account
 - follow the on-screen instructions to download your information and close your Google Health account.
For more information, see our help center article at http://www.google.com/support/health/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1347989

Note that, if you log in to Google Health, and are not given an option to download your data, it means that you do not have any data stored in Google Health and you do not need to do anything more.

If you have not retrieved your Google Health data by January 1, 2013, it will be removed from Google's systems and permanently and irrevocably deleted. Google will be unable to recover any Google Health data for any user after this date.

For more details on the discontinuation of Google Health, see our blog post at http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/update-on-google-health-and-google.html, and see answers to frequently-asked questions at http://www.google.com/intl/en/health/faq.html.

Note: you will continue to receive periodic service announcements as long as you have an active Google Health account. If you do not wish to receive further announcements, simply go to https://health.google.com and follow the process to download your data (if desired) and delete your Health account.

Thank you for your support and use of Google Health.

The Google Health Team

  1. Go to https://health.google.com and login with you Google account.
  2. Now you'll see a 'Download as ZIP' button.
  3. Click on the 'Yes, download' button. Open the downloaded file and verify the contents before continuing.
  4.  Now that you have safely backed up your health data, it's time to close the account. Click on "Close my Google Health account" button
  5. Select the check box and click on "Remove Google Health" button.
  6. That's all! Make sure you keep the downloaded health records in a safe place!
Cheers!

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Facebook Year In Review

Facebook just introduced a new feature that showcases 20 important stories from your timeline. This personalized custom story is called Year In Review.

When I logged in to my Facebook account this morning, I saw this new box:


Facebook Year In Review
The box has a link that says "See Your 2012 Year in Review" Look back at your 20 biggest moments from the past year.

Clicking on the link took me to a customized page, that looked like this:
Facebook 2012 Year In Review
The page shows 20 selected stories from your timeline. A big popup shows a familiar Share button that lets you share your Year In Review on your timeline. I noticed the URL of this page. It's
http://www.facebook.com/yearinreview/<my-user-name>

I did some experiment and figured out that

  • You can see your friends Year In Review by using their facebook id in above URL
  • If you are logged in, http://www.facebook.com/yearinreview/ will take you to your Year In Review(there's no need to append your facebook id.
As you can see in the above screenshot, the pop up has one more link See Facebook Trends from 2012. That will take you to page listing Facebook Trends for 2012. Check it out. It reveals some special and interesting stories about how people use Facebook in extraordinary ways.

I liked this feature. Click here to see YOUR 2012 Year In Review. Kudos to Facebook for this.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Updates To Facebook Data Use Policy & SRR

Facebook today announced some proposed updates to their Data Use Policy and Statement of Rights and Responsibilities (SRR).

A new document on their Facebook Site Governance Page announces the proposed change and also gives us links to the new documents.

Excerpt from the document:
Today we are proposing some updates to two documents which govern our site: our Data Use Policy, which explains how we collect and use data when people use Facebook, and our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities (SRR), which explains the terms governing the use of our services. These updates provide more detailed information about our practices, reflect changes to our products, and improve how we conduct our site governance process.
          ..................
          .................
  • Ask the Chief Privacy Officer. We’ll be launching a new feature on our Facebook and Privacy Page to let you submit questions about privacy to our Chief Privacy Officer of Policy, Erin Egan.

  • Facebook Live Events. Erin Egan will host webcasts on a regular basis to address your comments and questions about privacy, safety and security.
As you can see from the document they are adding a new feature to address questions about the changes. The document highlights the following changes:

  • New tools for managing your Facebook Messages – replacing the “Who can send you Facebook messages” setting with new filters for managing incoming messages.
  • Changes to how we refer to certain products, like instant personalization.
  • Reminders about what’s visible to other people on Facebook. For instance, when you hide things from your timeline, those posts are visible elsewhere, like in news feed, on other people’s timelines, or in search results.
  • Tips on managing your timeline. For example, you can use tools on your timeline or activity log to delete your own posts, or you can ask someone else to delete a post in which you’re tagged.
However to know what all has changed wrt Data Use Policy and Statement of Rights and Responsibilities (SRR), we have to read the new documents.

Use the following links to see the proposed changes. You can leave your comments on those pages. 
Click here to comment. Remember that these documents are open for comment till 9:00 AM PST on November 28, 2012. Make sure you read and understand new documents.
Happy and safe Facebooking!

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

How To Take Screenshot In Sony Ericsson Xperia

How to take screenshot in Sony Ericsson Xperia phone(and may be with other Sony Ericsson phones)?

Sounds trivial? Turns out it's not much so. I remember taking screenshot with this phone earlier. All I had to do is just press and hold the power button and I'd get option for screenshot.

Problem started  after I updated my phone to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). The old method stopped working and it took quite a bit of Googling before I found out the new method.

The new method to capture screenshot is little tricky.

Simultaneously hold 'Power' and 'Volume Low' button for ~2 seconds. 

I'll show how to do that in this video.



Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Bye Bye Meebo Messenger

Meebo Messenger is going away.

If you are a meebo user you would have got an email by now to let you know the same.
I got the following email couple of days ago:
You may have heard the news recently that Google has acquired Meebo. 
The Meebo Bar for site publishers will continue to be available and will see continued improvements and new features in the weeks and months ahead. 
However, as part of this transition, Meebo Messenger will be retired on July 11, 2012. 
As a past Messenger user, we wanted you to know that until July 11 you can download your archived Messenger chat logs. Log into your account on Meebo Messenger for a download link. Please act soon — after July 11, chat archives will be deleted. 
If you don't want to retrieve your chat logs, no action needs to be taken. 
This is a one-time courtesy email to let you know about the upcoming changes and the availability of your chat logs for download; there is no need to unsubscribe. 
Thank you for being a part of the Meebo community. The team here has loved every minute of the past seven years, and we're honored that you chose to trust Meebo as a place to have conversations with friends, family and colleagues. As we turn our attention to a new chapter, joining forces with the Google+ team, we look back with great appreciation to everyone who used and loved Meebo Messenger along the way. 
Sincerely,
Sandy, Seth, and the Meebo Team
As noted in the email, if you want to retrieve your chat logs, you have to do so before July 11, 2012. You can start by downloading the Meebo Messenger from https://www.meebo.com/messenger.


Wednesday, June 6, 2012

How To Change LinkedIn Password

A hacker has claimed to have hacked LinkedIn to get access to account details of ~6.5 million LinkedIn users. You can read more about the news here, here and here.

Vicente Silveira, Director at LinkedIn confirmed the password leak in his blog post.

So, if you are on LinkedIn change your password immediately!


If you are wondering how, here are the steps:


  1. Login to your LinkedIn account.
  2. Hover your mouse pointer over your name on the right top corner of the website, and click on the "Settings".
  3. In the "Settings" page, Click on "Account" in the left vertical Menu, then click on "Change password" as shown in the following image.
  4. Enter your old password and new password(twice)
  5. Make sure your new password is strong enough. Include uppercase letters, numbers and special characters. Click on the "Change password" button.
  6. That's all! Your password is changed!.
Important note: If you are using the same password for any other accounts, change them all ASAP.

Links:

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Facebook Messenger for Windows

Facebook recently announced launch of Facebook Messenger for desktop. They are promoting this new Windows app. They want us to keep using Facebook even when we are not using a browser. From their website:
Messenger is a new app that brings Facebook to your desktop. While you surf the web or use other applications on your computer, you can: 
  • Chat and message with your friends on Facebook
  • See the latest updates from your friends in ticker
  • Get quick notifications about what’s going on

Messenger lets you use Facebook without being on www.facebook.com. You will now be able to stay in touch anytime, no matter what you're doing. 
When I logged into my Facebook account today, I saw a small popup box in the bottom right corner of the page suggesting me to install the Windows App.

Facebook Windows app banner

Though I do not use Facebook chat much, nor I like to receive ticker updates from friends, I decided to give this a try. So, I started by clicking on the "Install Messenger" button.

Installing Facebook Messenger for Windows 7
You will need to Windows 7 to run this app. If you are on Windows 7, follow these steps.


  1. Go to Facebook Messenger home page  http://www.facebook.com/about/messenger
  2. Click on the Install button seen on that page. This will download a small setup file called FacebookMessengerSetup.exe 
  3. Double click on the downloaded file to run it. Click on the "Run" button on Windows security alert.
  4. Continue the installation by clicking Install button. 
  5. Make sure your firewall(if you have one) is configured to allow this new application to connect to internet.
  6. You are ready to go! Now you should be able to use the messenger to see ticker updates from friends and to chat with friends.
                                                   
  7. Enjoy Facebooking!
  8. For more information and help, visit Frequently Asked Questions(FAQs).

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Google Knol Is Going Away

Google is shutting down Google Knol!

Here's an email I recently received from the Knol team:
As part of Google’s prioritization of product efforts, we will be retiring Knol.  From now through April 30th, 2012, Knol will work as usual, but we’ve made it easy for you to download your knols to file and/or export them to Wordpress.com.  From May 1, 2012 through October 1, 2012, knols will no longer be viewable, but can be downloaded and exported.  After that time, knol content will no longer be accessible.  We hope that this timeline provides you ample time to transition your content.  For more information, please visit our FAQ: https://knol-redirects.appspot.com/faq.html

Thank you,
The Knol team

© 2012 Google Inc. 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043 
Some FAQs
What is Knol?
Knol launched in 2007 as a method for authors to work together to create authoritative articles about specific topics that they know about.
Why is Knol being discontinued?
Google is prioritizing our product efforts so we can make things much simpler for our users and devote more resources to high impact products.
When is Knol being discontinued?
From now through April 30th, 2012, Knol will work as usual, but we’ve made it easy for you to download your knols to file and/or export them to WordPress.com. From May 1, 2012 through October 1, 2012, knols will no longer be viewable, but can be downloaded and exported. After that time, Knol content will no longer be accessible.
How do I download my knols?
From now through October 1, 2012, you can download your knols from knol.google.com. There will be a large section at the top of the page with links to either export your knols to WordPress.com or download them to a file. Clicking the latter will take you to Google Takeout where you can create your archive.
 Find answers for more FAQs here.
You'll see a Big notice on Knol Website
with links to Export my knols to WordPress.com and Download my knols to a file.

Read Wikipedia entry for Knol to know more about Knol. For an alternative to Google Knol, check Annotum.

Annotum helps you to easily migrate your knol data. They have a neat Getting Started Guide.


Google Introduces Google Play

Google is introducing Google Play, that replaces and extends Android Market.

See this video: Android Apps on Google Play



Google Play is not just a new name for Android Market. It's going to be an integrated destination for Music, Movies, Books and Apps.

Read more:

Also watch this cool video


Learn more about Google Play https://play.google.com/about/.


Tuesday, January 24, 2012

When Larry Met Sergey


Created by Online PhD

A friend shared this on Google+. I liked it so much, I had to share it here!
Enjoy!
-SN