03.30.06
TypePad Offers Widgets
Ruffles have ridges, now TypePad has Widgets.
Widgets are a quick and easy way to add features to your blog. Photos, search boxes, stats counters, ads, blog feeds, and more are right around the corner.
03.29.06
Best Blog Guides
The Web 2.0 Awards have named Technorati, Blogniscient, and Bloglines as their top blog guides.
“It’s easy to get lost in Technorati; with over 30.8 million blogs and 2.1 billion links indexed by this massive blog guide, there’s no end of sites and content to browse. Behemoth though it may be, Technorati’s advanced search function, tag categorization, and authority ranking make it simple to navigate. With the added bonus of participation, Technorati easily takes the cake as the Web’s best blog guide.
Blogniscient also brings the latest information to your fingertips, provided by a specific set of high-quality filtered blogs. Article categories (US Politics, Sci/Tech, Sports, Entertainment, and Business) are as good as any newspaper, if a bit limited. Blogniscient is easy to navigate and pleasant to look at, but its main drawbacks are a lack of social aspects and contribution.
Finally, if you’re looking to start reading blog feeds or thinking of creating one of your own, take a look at Bloglines. Though its interface leaves something to be desired, Bloglines is feature-rich, whichever you prefer to use and comprehensive, sure to please those looking for everything in one place.”
The Internet marketing company behind the Web 2.0 Awards is SEOmoz and they run an excellent blog centered around search engine optimization for websites.
Best Podcasts
The Web 2.0 Awards also gave out (imaginary) statues to the Best Podcasts.
“Sifting through the mounds of new-media webcasts to find relevant content can be a chore. Podcast & Videocast directories like Loomia aid in categorizing available content into accurate categories and sorting the wheat from the chaff. Loomia offers traditional search and browse options with tags, categories, and most popular video and audio, but it’s more than just a search engine. Loomia’s major bonus is that it will sort content based on personal ratings and interests to provide users with custom recommendations.In the Podcast & Videocast category, we also looked closely at sites that facilitate broadcast and publication in addition to those that act as directories of existing audio/video feeds. Podomatic and Odeo both maintain searchable databases of podcast feeds but also allow users to create and promote their own audio broadcasts through an on-page recording studio. With a gorgeous interface, great podcast content, and superior usability, Odeo runs away with first place.”
03.20.06
Top 50 Weblogs, September 2000
In 2000, Beebo.org started documenting the most popular weblogs based on the number of sites that linked to them. The most interesting thing is how small the link numbers are. The top site (Robot Wisdom) had 44 links, and having 10 sites linked to you would have made you a Top 50 blog in 2000. The numbers really make you realize how quickly the blogosphere — and the visibility of blogs — has grown in a very short time.
“You’ve Got Blog”
The previous Beebo site also includes a link to a classic article written (in November 2001) by Rebecca Mead for The New Yorker. Entitled “You’ve Got Blog,” Mead’s article was one of the first mainstream publications to give any attention to blogging and bloggers. Just (re-)read it.
The article also focuses on the blogosphere romance of kottke.org and megnut.com, a defining moment in the history of blog-dating.
03.15.06
Blooks = Blogs + Books
It’s a blogosphere truism: every blogger wants to write a book. US News & World Report has a boxed feature from its cover story (March 13, 2006 issue) covering the marriage of bloggers and books. An increasing number of bloggers are turning up as published authors, with some fantastic stories of major book deals (meaning $500,000+) being secured by the likes of the blogosphere’s resident Carrie Bradshaw clone, Stephanie Klein.
Self-publishing sites such as Lulu.com can help even the most humble blogger become an author. Why wait to be discovered when you can make your own book and force copies on all of your friends?
03.08.06
All about Technorati
An article from the Guardian Unlimited about “the ringmaster of the blogosphere,” Technorati.
