Windows Live Writer Stopped Support For Blogger "Permanently"!

Sad but true! Blogger users will no longer be able to publish blog posts using Windows Live Writer.

UPDATE: Open Live Writer Connection Error has been fixed. Read how to fix the blogger login errors and other formatting issues. 

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Microsoft has finally stopped support for its Blog-Publishing tool Windows Live Writer but fortunately it was kind enough to Open-Source the project by allowing the online community to continue its development. On 9th Dec, 2015, Microsoft's employee, "Scott Hanselman" announced that some engineers within Microsoft has successfully open sourced and forked Windows Live Writer and gave it a new name entitled as Open Live Writer (aka OLW) and it is now part of the .NET Foundation and managed by this group of independent volunteers from Microsoft. Windows Live Writer will continue working but due to no future updates since 2012 it has shut down its support for Blogger blogs permanently due to Google's modern OAuth 2 authentication system. Scott said it in clear words that WLW will never support this new OAuth 2 authentication system, so if you are a Blogger.com user, you'll have no choice but to switch to Open Live Writer. WLW will no longer work with blogspot blogs but it will continue working with WordPress and other blogging platforms. None of our Forum Tricks for fixing the 2 step authentication will work now.

Note: Click the Button below to see full list of topics under discussion.

OLW Topics List

Blogger Users Will See These Errors

Windows Live Writer will return the error "NotFound: Not Found" for Blogger Blogs from now onwards and there is currently no solution or fix for this bug and there will never be one as per the Microsoft employee: Scott Hanselman.

Unfortunately currently even "Open Live Writer" uses the old authentication endpoint and does not support connection to Blogger accounts. OLW throws an error "The username or password is incorrect. Please try again".

The following error is shown when you try to connect your blogspot blog with OLW.

 

The good news is that Scott has confirmed that in recent days OLW will be updated to support OAuth2 so that blogger users could continue using it without errors. He mentioned this OLW-Blogger connection issue in his blog post:

Google runs the excellent Blogger blog service. We've worked with the Blogger Team within Google on this project, and they've been kind enough to keep an older authentication endpoint running for many months while we work on Open Live Writer. Soon, Google and Blogger will finally shut down this older authentication system. Blogger will use the more modern OAuth 2 and Open Live Writer will be updated to support OAuth 2.

Google has also confirmed that Windows Live Writer will no longer work with Blogger.com:

A few months ago, the Windows Live Writer and Blogger integration stopped working for a few days due to improvements in Google’s authentication systems. We agreed to keep the old authentication systems for a few more months but starting December 11th, they will be retired and Windows Live Writer will stop working.

This means if you use Windows Live Writer and would like to keep using it to post on Blogger, you will need to migrate to Open Live Writer since Windows Live Writer will not ever support our new authentication system. However, we would like to warn you the connection between the Blogger and Open Live Writer might not work for a while.

Download  Open Live Writer!

Open Live Writer is surely the next big blog editor that will allow you to create blog posts, add photos and videos then publish to your website. You can also compose blogs posts offline and then publish on your return just like you did using WLW. Open Live Writer works with many popular blog service providers that were previously supported by WLW. Platforms include WordPress, SharePoint, Blogger, TypePad, Moveable Type, DasBlog and many more.

Note: Blogspot accounts are currently facing authentication issues and OLW team has promised to fix this issue as soon as possible through a github thread.  I will keep you updated with all latest developments.

Download Now!

Open Live Writer is NOT a Microsoft product

Scott made it quite clear that OLW is an open source project under the .NET Foundation and is managed and coded by volunteers. Although Open Live Writer may look like an exact clone of WLW but it is not a Microsoft product. Some of the volunteers work for Microsoft and are doing this work in their spare time.

Do not delete Windows Live Writer

You must not delete WLW, Open Live Writer installation will not override your WLW files. They both will act as different tools in your Windows PC. I wrote this blogger post offline using Windows Live Writer and I simply copied the Source HTML and pasted inside blogger editor to publish the blog post. So you can continue using WLW to format your posts. OLW currently have no Spell Check support for Windows 7 so if you are a Win7 user, WLW could still prove a lot useful to write quality posts offline with no grammatical mistakes.

Your Views?

Open Live Writer is surely going to make content generation methods a lot more easier and advanced. I just hope they will soon fix existing issues and technical errors related BlogSpot blogs. I also tweeted Scott and have shared blogger users concerns with him. Do you really think you will miss "Windows Live Writer" when you have a better open source alternative which in other words is WLW itself but with a new name and management? =)

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Blogger Now Supports Creating Featured Thumbnails for YouTube Videos

While developing a JSON based Plugin for blogger blogs, we observed that Blogger now creates a featured thumbnail image automatically for YouTube videos embedded inside blog posts. This means now you don't need to extract YouTube Thumbnails using an advanced JavaScript method. This is done dynamically by Blogger through its JSON Feed API. In this tutorial I will demonstrate in brief how this thumbnail is created and stored inside a json object. If you are a developer, you may find this discovery extremely interesting because it helps to shorten your code and optimize it for better performance as no search for YouTube thumbnail is required now on your behalf. So far the thumbnail support only exists for YouTube videos, I tested vimeo and dailymotion videos but the thumbnails were not created.

In our coming JSON series we will surely discuss the JavaScript technique that we previously used to develop widgets for clients because though blogger creates an auto thumbnail for YouTube Iframe but the disadvantage of this method is that the thumbnail is in square format having dimensions 72 x 72. Blogger is actually extracting the default small YouTube thumbnail which has dimensions 120 x 90 (pixels).Therefore if you wish to display large HQ thumbnails inside your apps then you may wait for our next tutorial.

If you are new to Blogspot JSON feeds, I would recommend that you at least read part1 and part2 of this tutorial series.

Note: Click the Button below to see full list of topics under discussion.

Topics List

The YouTube Thumbnail is stored inside media$thumbnail

Assuming you already have read how to view your JSON feed in a human readable format, I am sharing below the steps to locate where exactly the thumbnail is stored.

1. Embed a YouTube Iframe inside your blog and publish the post.

2. Copy your new JSON code. In our case we are using a test blog and the url for its JSON feed is:

http://www.facebook-comments-box.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=json

3. Next Navigate to JSON > feed > entry

Select the most recent post which of course is inside the element { } 0

4. Expand the node media$thumbnail to see its elements.

From the image above you can observe that Blogger JSON feed provides 4 basic information about the thumbnails. The important among which is the url.

• xmlns$media:  This tag provides the link for Media RSS specification directory which provides meta data info for video clips. Currently though it points to search.yahoo.com/mrss/ but it will soon be replaced with rssboard.org/media-rss in future. Full Details
• url: This is the Image link to the default YouTube Thumbnail. Its default size 120 X 9.
• height: default size for height
• width: default size for width

The thumbnail that blogger creates ends with extension default.jpg. If you replace it with 0.jpg, you will get a much larger High Quality thumbnail. We will discuss how to do it in our coming tutorial.

http://img.youtube.com/vi/ht866-K1JeU/default.jpg  (120 x 90)

Replace with 0.png for large thumbnails

http://img.youtube.com/vi/ht866-K1JeU/0.jpg   (480 x 360 )

Need Help?

For a more advanced approach I will share the JavaScript technique in next part of this tutorial series. Let me know if you have any queries with regard to the above tutorial. I have tested vimeo videos and also dailymotion videos by embedding them in blogspot posts but so far only YouTube thumbnails are supported in Blogger.

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How Telecommunications Have Changed Over The Past 20 Years?

With rapid changes in Google's algorithm for mobile devices and the boom in mobile telecommunication, we thought why not share some historical background to give our readers some highlights of some of the biggest changes in Mobile technology specifically Telecommunication Industry because internet and of course blogging would have been never possible without the advent of telecommunication. 

The development of electronic telecommunications goes back as far as the early nineteenth century and the telegram, while the first commercial telephone service was established in 1878. The twentieth century saw the development of radio and television and by the 1970s the precursor to today's internet was already established.

After Motorola's demonstration of the first handheld cell phone in 1973, the internet and cell phones as we know them would become widely adopted by the public during the 1990s, and arguably the past 20 years have seen the most far-reaching and dramatic revolution in telecommunications since the original invention of the telephone. Moreover, this pace of change and development shows no sign of slowing down.

The growth of the internet 

The World Wide Web and the HTTP protocol were invented in 1989, and revolutionized communication over the internet when they were made available to the public in 1994. While email predated the internet, in 1996 Hotmail launched the first web-based email accounts, meaning you could now access your messages on any web-connected computer, which led to the growth of internet cafes around the globe for backpackers and tourists. The same year the first Instant Messaging service was launched, and the late nineties saw the launch of familiar names like Amazon, Ebay and Google. 

Social media 

The advent of 'Web 2.0' in the early 2000s allowed ordinary internet users to take control of the medium and to use it as a platform for their own creativity and communication. Web 2.0 applications included blogging, YouTube, Myspace, LinkedIn and Twitter. In 2006, Facebook expanded from universities to anyone with a valid email address and would soon become the definitive social media network, transforming communications and relationships around the world. In 2011 social media was used to organize protests in Egypt, resulting in sites being shut down by the government. 

Mobile phones 

Mobile cell phones gradually became more widespread and sophisticated throughout the late nineties and early 2000s. 2007 saw Apple's first iPhone appear; the smartphone era was upon us, liberating internet connection from the desktop. The advantage of the smartphone is most apparent in developing countries, where previously isolated people are able to not only communicate with family and friends over long distance, but are able to connect with the web and a whole world of cultural and commercial possibilities.

The telecommunications network in the Middle East was slower to develop than in many western countries, but is now experiencing something of a boom. Afghan Wireless modernized Afghanistan's outdated telecommunications sector and launched the country's first mobile phone network in 2002. Founder Ehsanollah Bayat also established Ariana radio and television which now reaches an audience of millions in Afghanistan and beyond. Look at Ehsanollah Bayat on XING to find out more. 

The future of telecommunications will come in the form of billions of new smartphone users, and most of them will be in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. As the technology becomes cheaper and faster they will use their phones not just to keep in touch but to connect with the commercial world and to improve their fortunes. The telecommunications revolution isn't over yet.

Tell us what you Know!

Let us know what you know about telecommunication and how it has changed your life over a decade? I hope this interesting info may help you better understand how life changed with changes in Telecommunication systems. :)

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"Head Office" of a Professional Blogger

Today we are not changing the world and neither claim to revolutionize the web but yes we have changed our mini world and revolutionized our workspace and changing the perception of all parents that our motto of "Transforming Bloggers Into Entrepreneurs" was never just a sugar coated slogan, we meant it and we are proving it today! STCnetwork has transformed from a simple Home ran business to a Commercial Open Market Business. We are officially launching the first Head Office of STCnetwork in Karachi, which is the First Registered Company in subcontinent of Professional Bloggers, which aims at promoting Online Entrepreneurship across the country and globe. This office is Alhamdulillah a successful execution of Phase I of our Mega Plan and with God as the Mentor and our readers as a source of motivation, we are very close to Phase II. Our employees work virtually from different countries and cities and we do make up a good family.

What is the Office all about?

We have been educating over thousands of students, house wives, retirees and jobless on daily basis since consecutive 5 years across the globe and have fortunately transformed several students into Content Writers, SEO geeks, Pro Bloggers, Web developers and Programmers. Today this office is a clear evidence of how correct online earning strategies and hard work can guarantee you a substantial and lucrative income online.

From this month onwards we will be offering web services and web solutions to local clients too and have expanded our development scope to Mobile applications also. Our services and area of interest include:

• Web development
• App Development
• Graphics and Animation
• SEO Auditing & Consultancy
• Web marketing Campaigns and SEM
• Online Business Strategies and ideas
• *Preaching Entrepreneurship through Public Speaking

With this Office we hope to better help our clients and students who are eager to learn more about content writing and online earning mechanisms. Loyal clients and readers would be able to meet us face to face and have a cup of Green Tea with us!

For The Record

Professional bloggers have mostly Home Offices but we needed to step ahead of all and become amongst the pioneers to step into open market as Bloggers and web developers.  To our best knowledge STCnetwork is currently the First Registered Company of Professional Bloggers with a Commercial Office in South Asia and we pay regular income tax and have our company NTN (National TAX Number).

What made it Possible?

I never forget the old days because they keep me reminded of who am I and what have I become and what I need to do next. My parents belonged to a middle class family and they worked day and night so that I could be an educated gentlemen. It is hard explaining every detail of how a small school going guy turned into an entrepreneur today in a field of blogging which was rarely practiced in my country and rarely do anyone knew about it but if there is anything that helped me reach this stage is certainly trust in God, helping people, respect of readers, remaining humble to mentors and consistent hard work despite several ups and downs. Maintaining an online business is tough when you have a bully like Google around =d but it is only patience and dedication that enables you to face it all and still be happy and contended with life.

A saying of the Legendary boxer Muhammad Ali is enough to describe why I always emphasize so much on hard work:

I hated every minute of training, but I said "Don't quit, suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion"

It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out;
it's the pebble in your shoe

Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they have been given than to explore the power they have to change it, impossible is not a fact, it's an opinion,
impossible is not a declaration, it's a dare, impossible is
potential, impossible is temporary,

impossible is nothing.

Surely no success is possible without hard work. Hard work is the only requirement that pleases God irrespective of which religion or belief you follow, whether you are a Muslim, Hindu, Christian or Jew, God blesses almost anyone who steps ahead to bring about a positive change. Striving day and night is the necessity to live for a strong purpose in life, without hard work you have no purpose.

Why was there a need for an Office?

Working from home is really difficult if you are married because the surrounding around you is full of distraction. After my marriage I found it quite difficult to manage work and family responsibilities. You need some peace of mind where you could explore your creativity and be more productive. Therefore I decided to step out and establish an Office which would be a great source of meet up place for Local bloggers and also a source of motivation for newbies.

I also have a Plan B in mind which is sort of a bigger picture and so far this Head Office was the fundamental requirement and Phase I of the Phase II

Office Interior Design

It took me around 20 days to design the interior of Office Space, decorate it with Office accessories like furniture, tool kit, Computer system, Wi-Fi Internet connection and furnish the environment the best I could with soft and pleasing colors, tiling and paint. I hope you like it. See it for yourselves!

Old Home Office and the Distraction!

A 3 years Old Pic of our home office.

Can anyone work in this environment? These little cute monsters would snatch away my Mobile phone, Flash Disks and what not! They would conquer the computer system and would rarely let me touch it unless they have qualified the Game level! ;(

New Head Office

 

Photo Credits goes to one of my dearest buddies Asjad Azeem (Photographer and Software Engineer at Techlogix). I am extremely thankful to him for taking out time and capturing the office snapshots.

Company Website!

STCnetwork.org has been completely redesigned and equipped with all details. It is build on HTML5 and PHP with parallax effect. We will release it within few days. See a glimpse of it below:

The team list also includes our senior most Content Writer and Marketing Queen Nida Zaidi.

Head Office Location - Come Have Tea with us!

We don't drink coffee nor beverages but yes we are a big fan of Green Tea (our cultural drink =p ) and we would love to have a cup of it with you when you visit us!

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Main Shaheed -e- Millat Road,
Near Dubai Islamic Bank,
Silk Mall, 1st Floor, F-17
STCnetwork
Karachi, Pakistan
Email: mohammad@mybloggertricks.com

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Visitor Reviews

I invited some of my best mates to the office on the opening ceremony and here is what they have to say when I asked them for a review:

@Wassay Khan ~ iOS Developer at netspace

A great achievement in his career, never thought that he would achieve such kind of greatness so early in life.
Hope and Pray that you achieve your desired goal as always. =d

 

 @Ahmed Nasir ~ The Best Programmer ever

As I stepped in I felt I was inside a judge's chamber! MashAllah everything was professionally setup and well decorated. I wish you all the best and may Allah succeed you even more!  =)

@Umair Ahmed Khan ~ Software Engineer at VentureDive

It was truly an awesome experience... Everything was perfect on its place. This is just the start of the journey, you will be having your own empire named STC Network inshAllah. I know you will also remember me then as well. Best of luck buddy for your Soon To Come Future :-)

 @Muhammad Haris ~ Software Engineer at VentureDive

The first thing that came to my eyes when I entered the office is the frosted logo on Glass of STC, MashAllah. Everything was so well decorated, loved the theme a lot. Everything from dustbin to Office table was theme aligned. I see this roller coaster is moving to its peak inshAllah. May you have many more success in your business and life. Ameen :)

 @Ramesh Kumar Khatri ~ Mobile App Develop at NextGeni

STC's baby Office is so cute, it smiles at you with attractive color combination and embraces you with that wooden frame fixed on wall. At first I found it good but when I stepped in and spend some time, I found it amazing! Hope this baby Office (as you named it) grows well and healthy! :>

 

@Muhammad Ahsan Marfani ~ Management Executive at National Refinery Ltd.

A Space of approx. 80 square feet. Equipped with every essential item increasing your efficiency manifold as compared to work from home. Exclusively styled giving a touch of executives class. In a nutshell a nest every blogger can only dream.

Your views and Reviews!

I can barely sleep peacefully unless I have shared everything with my family online and I could have rarely even dreamt of all that we achieved so far if we were not supported and motivated by the kind online community of blogosphere and MBT readers. I hope this story of a small man may motivate youngsters to step into Online entrepreneurship and give as much importance to Creativity and self development as they give to Higher education. May you guys have the best of life and be far better entrepreneurs and ambassadors of your life. The future is all about you guys, you just need to keep your trust in God and yourself. Laziness pays off now but hard work has a future payoff so keep working harder and wait for the pleasant hidden surprises that awaits you!

Do not forget to post your reviews and share your precious feedback. Your every word means a lot!Peace and blessings buddies! =>

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How To Get Free 100 GB OneDrive Storage?

When it comes to online productivity wars, no one probably does it better than Microsoft. With their recent transition into this whole 'cloud first' persona, it has become harder for competitors to stand their ground. A few days back, we shared Google's offering of an extra 2 GB free space on Google Drive. Today, we were staggered to see Microsoft offering a humongous 100 GB of free space for OneDrive users.

This free OneDrive storage offer can be claimed before the end of February, after which it will expire. The free storage will remain with you until February 2017, so you have a good two years to enjoy your free storage!

As a Blogger, I cannot do without certain cloud applications. Be it a note-taking app such as OneNote or Google Keep, or a cloud storage I can host my personal website on. From backing up your website data onto the cloud, to keeping your photos synced across devices, there's a lot that can done with these productivity applications.

To me, just how Microsoft is giving away so much free space is amazing. A few GBs here and there are the norm. You get free 3 GB for turning on camera upload, and so on. Dropbox had a space race going an year or so ago, and even that gave you 25 extra GB at max. So for OneDrive, an extra 100 GB for free is a big deal!

How to get the free 100 GBs?

The free space is available, courtesy of Bing Rewards. It is a program where you are rewarded for using Bing and various other Microsoft services. Unfortunately, it is only available for residents within the U.S. Despair not, however. There's a workaround!

Step 1: Connect to a US-based proxy

If you live inside the states, you can skip to the next step. For non-US residents, you can use a VPN service or a US-based IP address. TorGuard is one such service that gives you lots of servers within the U.S. to connect to. VPN.CC is another example that offers free trials as well.

Step 2: Join Bing Rewards

You can claim free credits just for signing up with Bing Rewards using your Microsoft account. This credit can be used to get free storage and other such offers and services on OneDrive.

Step 3: Claim your reward!

All you now need to do is click on the reward offer within Bing Rewards dashboard, and 100 GB will be instantly added to your Microsoft OneDrive!

Which cloud service do you prefer, and why? Leave your responses in the comments section below, or post a new thread to our forum for further help! Cheers :)

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