Social media that doesn’t know when to let go

Posted by William Gallagher

Looking for a simple “delete” option in your account settings for that messaging app, or that online shopping service? Good luck. Clicked on the “cancel account” link and saw an option to cancel a subscription cycle, but not to delete an account? Yep. Don’t quite know what the difference is between “deactivate” and “delete”? I’m with you.

To Delete, or Not to Delete? If Only We Could – Lauren Goode, Re/code (13 October 2014)

Goode was taking the route we probably should all consider: getting more done by getting rid of distractions. But as she tries to actually delete her online accounts, things got stubborn.

Read the full feature for more, including what’s advice she can give you for trying to do this yourself.

Good: Google+ goes slightly minus

Posted by William Gallagher

The Telegraph spotted this:

Google has quietly removed the requirement for new Gmail users to sign up for a Google+ account, in an apparent acknowledgment that some users find it intrusive.Google+ is a social network which integrates with many of Google’s online services, including Gmail, the +1 button, and YouTube comments. The service has over 300 million active users worldwide, according to Google.
However, some insiders have expressed scepticism about this number, claiming that a user does not even have to navigate to the Google+ website to count as ‘active’; they merely have to click the notifications icon in the top right hand side of the screen.

Google stops pushing Google+ accounts on Gmail users – Sophie Curtis, The Telegraph (22 September 2014)

Good. This really just a personal thing but it seems to be shared personally by a lot of persons. Where I’m okay to good with signing in to Apple’s various services – because I see the benefit and it got to me first – I find it immensely aggravating how Google pushes and pushes and shoves all of its at me. At least with Apple it feels that the benefits to me come before it pushing: it feels like I get to see why it’d be useful before it tries to get me to sign up. And while it may be that I see fewer Apple prods because I have signed up, I do see few Apple prods. And I get a lot from Google.

Now seemingly persons will get one fewer.

Since 2012, anyone signing up for a new Gmail account was required to sign up for a Google+ account at the same time. However, the company has now added a ‘No thanks’ button that allows users to opt out of the service.
“We updated the signup experience in early September,” a Google spokesperson told The Telegraph. “Users can now create a public profile during signup, or later, if and when they share public content for the first time (like a restaurant review, YouTube video or Google+ post).”

The Telegraph extrapolates from this that Google+ itself is less the poster child it used to be at the company. I don’t know. Certainly Google+ hasn’t become part of my life the way Facebook and Twitter have – perhaps because of its too-eager pushing? – but we’ll see. I wouldn’t miss Google+ but I’m happy enough with today’s news.

That was July 2014

Posted by William Gallagher

Previously… every month I account for what I’ve done. Sometimes atone. Always account. And you don’t need to read this but I really, really need to write it. This helps me keep going, helps me press on.

Here’s what I did in June, now read on for July 2014:

Writing (approximately 63,488 words):
Edited and delivered Write On! issue 4
155 news articles for The Blank Screen (totalling approximately 44,847 words)
4 email newsletters for The Blank Screen (approximately 4,732 words)
4 Self Distract personal blogs (totalling approximately 5,374 words)
Produced 2x videos for The Blank Screen site
Editing Catherine’s autobiography
Wrote and delivered short story commission “The Book Groups” (2,200 words)
The Blank Screen Blogging book: (6,335 words)
Writers’ Guild and Royal Television Society event invitation emails
Transferable Skills (4 pages of script)

Pitches/interviews:
Interviewed for Reader in Residence posts, failed
Soft chased one publisher

Education
Performed three workshops at Original Writing Day in Newman University
Performed three-day workshop at Fircroft College

Attended:
Writers’ Guild AGM where I was a teller and a talker
Tom Wentworth’s play at Ludlow
Royal Television Society Education Day Final as judge
Royal Television Society AGM where I joined the committee
Writing Begets Writing Mental Health morning session
Writers’ Networking Meeting

Press:
Interviewed by BBC CWR re anniversary of moon landing

Other:
Got up at 5am for the 250th time
Write So Fluid news site ran a tweet of mine
Email interviews with five bloggers for book
Coffee interview with one blogger for book
Asked to do a talk in October
Federation of Entertainment Unions checked my availability for September
FEU booked me for September
Book group editing session
Designed mockup for poetry app
Talked with Arts Council re funding application
Met with Jeff Phelps re buddying programme and poetry app
Explored Dapp iOS development system
Explored Scrivener software
Judging RTS Awards DVDs
Soundscapes project discussions and notes
Recommended for lecturing work at charity
Celebrated 20 years of marriage with a holiday in France

Take two Evernote accounts into the shower?

Posted by William Gallagher

I’ve been using Evernote for years and much of my life is in it. Yesterday I opened a second account.

Follow. Every Evernote account comes with a secret email, much the way that OmniFocus does. He or She Who Shalt Know Thy Address can just email things straight into your notebook. See something online, zap it off to your Evernote account. There cannot be any app that doesn’t come with the ability to share things via email, you’re just taking advantage of that to send to Evernote.

But you only get one email address. And while you can do clever dances with the email’s subject heading, it’s a bit tedious. Only a bit. If I get an email from you about The Blank Screen and I can’t reply immediately for some reason, I can and will forward the email into my Evernote account. I could and rarely do add details to the subject heading so that Evernote files the email away somewhere for me.

But you only get one email address. Unless you open a second Evernote account. Then you’ve got one for that too.

I have long had a Premium Evernote account and yesterday I opened a new free one. Ever since I did this, if I see something online I want to – for instance – write about here, I tap Share, tap Email and I start writing the letters “Ev”. Before I’ve got any further than that, Mail is autocompleting my Evernote address and I am sending the material on. Barely a thought.

You can see the advantage. And you can’t see the advantage of forwarding emails to another Evernote account, not unless you think I’m trying to avoid people. Except, you can share notebooks.

So yes.

That’s exactly it.

I have a free Evernote account which contains one notebook and of which that only notes for The Blank Screen. And I share that notebook – with myself. With my main account.

Previously, OmniFocus was getting clogged up with links I wanted to explore. Now everything goes into Evernote and I see it, I never miss it, but it is never in my way.