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How to save your Google+ account data

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Google abandoned Google+, its social network, late last year. Now, you have until April 2 before Google starts deleting your Google+ posts and communities. For most people, that’s not a big deal, but for those of us who loved Google+, it’s a sad time. But, at least you can can save some of your information before the clock strikes midnight.

What Google+ data will be deleted?

According to Google, it won’t just be your posts and communities that will will vanish into the great bitbucket in the sky. Your Google+ photos and videos will also be deleted. If you’ve backed up your photos and videos to Google Photo, they’ll be safe.

Google won’t be deleting everything immediately. It will take a few months for Google to get around to deleting all the content from consumer Google+ accounts, Google+ Pages, and Album Archives. Don’t wait for it. The smart thing to do is to get your data out before it disappears. Here’s how you do it.


(Image: ZDNet)

How to save your Google+ account data

Go to Google Takeout

First, head over to Google Takeout. This webpage shows all your Google products. I’ll bet you didn’t even know you used that many. I had well over 50 myself. From here, by default, you can create an archive of all your data. Since that’s probably not what you want to do, hit Select None. Then, go down the list to Google+.

Decide which data you want to retain

You’ll see there’s not a single Google+ listing. Instead, there are five separate ones. You can ignore Google+ +1s on websites. That’s just your +1 recommendations on other web sites. The ones you want are Google+ Circles (your contacts), Google+ Communities (your community data), Google+ Stream (your posts), and Profile (your profile data).

google-download.jpg

(Image: SJVN)

Pick a data format 

This data comes in multiple formats. At the top, you can get your Circle contact information in CSV, HTML. vCard, or JSON.

For Communities, you can get your data in HTML or JSON. In theory, you can get your data from all the communities you were active in or select data from specific communities. In practice, I found you can only download the data from all your communities.

With Google+ Stream, you can choose to get your data in HTML or JSON. Here, you really can pick which data you want to retain. You’re given a choice of posts, activity log, metadata, and events. Of these, I think posts are likely to the ones you’ll want to keep. Your Profile data is only available in JSON.

Choose a compressed format and archive file size

Once you’ve picked out what you want, go to the bottom of the page and click on the Next button. You’ll now be presented with a choice in which compressed format you’ll want to get your archives: zip or tgz. You can also choose the size of your archive files. This ranges from 1GB to 50GB. If you have even more data, you can get multiple archives.

Get your download link or add to cloud storage

Once that’s done, you can get a download link by e-mail or have the archive be placed directly into your Google Drive, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, or Box. Depending on how much data you have, this may take some time. Google warns it make take hours or even days to get your archive.

Is it worth it? 

It is for me. I spent many hours on Google+ talking with my readers and chatting with the movers and shakers of open-source software and Linux, including Linus Torvalds. It’s well worth the effort.

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5 Emergency Tools You Should Always Keep In Your Car

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You probably remember at least one time in your childhood when your parents’ car needed a jump from a neighbor using jumper cables. In recent years, however, jump starter batteries that you can keep inside your car have become cheaper and more prevalent, and they’re now a must-have for your vehicle. The upside to having a portable battery you can jump your car with is obvious — you don’t need to rely on another vehicle or willing driver to bring your car back to life. This is especially crucial if you’re in an isolated area or it’s the middle of the night.

Jump starter batteries have a few caveats, as they are more expensive than cables, take up slightly more space, and, most importantly, you need to remember to keep them charged. However, their benefits outweigh these slight inconveniences, and it’s worth buying a good one even if they can get a little pricey. 

This jump starter battery from DeWalt retails at $182, but it comes with everything you need. That includes LED lights to see your engine in the dark, an alarm if you’re not connecting to your battery correctly, a power bank to charge your phone, and even an air compressor. Plus, it’s also built to work in cold weather.

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5 Workflow Generative AI Tools That Could Soon Help Make Your Job Easier

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While Bing Chat may have gotten a lot of attention, it isn’t the only Microsoft product that has had its functionality enhanced by the addition of AI. Microsoft 365 Copilot integrates AI across the Microsoft 365 suite, allowing it to pull information from multiple sources and significantly improve your productivity. 

Copilot can now be used for creative purposes in Word, Powerpoint, Outlook, Teams, and even Viva Engage. It can be used to write, edit and otherwise generate documents, reports, presentations, emails, questions, messages, and more. Furthermore, with its integration into Excel, Copilot can also be used as a powerful data analysis tool, giving you deep insights into your data in response to simply-worded questions, even generating models and visualizations as needed.

These implementations significantly increase the capabilities of each of the Microsoft 365 programs they have been added to. However, what really sets Copilot apart from many other implementations of generative AI is its ability to draw information from across Microsoft 365 and combine it for whatever you may require. This feature is called Business Chat and allows you to pull information from multiple sources, such as your email, calendar, and chats, all at once. You can have it generate updates, overviews, reports, and more so you can stay up to speed while keeping your team similarly informed.

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10 Electric Cars With The Highest Maintenance Costs

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Audi’s parent company Volkswagen is going all-in on electric vehicles, so it is no surprise that its luxury arm is manufacturing its own models. The e-tron presents a bevy of cutting-edge features backed up by the latest technology. Its electric drivetrain offers up to 426 horsepower and 596 lb-ft of torque in its top trim level, and all of them offer a refined luxury experience once inside. Some of its highlights include an LED headlight, adjustable air suspension, dual front touchscreens and digital gauge cluster, and seat heating and cooling. If Audi is trying to reach the executive class with this car, it shows the brand has done its homework. However, the new e-tron naming convention is a bit confusing, as the e-tron SUV is now the Q8 e-tron, which is different from the e-tron GT and Q4 e-tron. Perhaps Audi should scrap it and start naming cars after predator animals.

One thing the new Audi e-tron line may not have going for it is the company’s reputation for reliability. RepairPal ranks it at 28 of 32 brands, a rather poor showing. According to Edmunds, the e-tron will likely see $1,934 in repairs and $6,382 in maintenance. While the actual repair bill is modest, the maintenance cost is very high.

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