07.31.06
Visit your bookstores now…
The book is out in stores today. Rejoice.
07.30.06
Desktop Publishing Comparison
Lifehacker, a blog that focuses on making your computer time more productive (thus allowing you to spend that extra time being even more unproductive), recently did a quick desktop blog editor comparison. The results of their poll revealed that 60% of bloggers use an online editor but the other 40% are using additional software to blog. If you want to move from the majority to the minority — and who doesn’t nowadays, it’s so counter-culture — Lifehacker presents some appealing options.
07.27.06
Successful Blogging, Wonkette-style
David Pogue, who writes a weekly technology column for The New York Times, interviews Ana Marie Cox, the first (and most famous) Wonkette.
07.25.06
Timeless Advice
From an article posted at A List Apart in 2002, “How to Write A Better Weblog.” An article that is as relevant today as it was…yesterday.
A List Apart Magazine — ?For people who make websites? — is an amazing website that “explores the design, development, and meaning of web content, with a special focus on techniques and benefits of designing with web standards.” Seriously, it’s always an educational read and has been an Internet institution for years.
07.21.06
Another one bites the dust…
In case you didn’t believe that blogging at work could get you fired (“dooced”), here’s another example of a (French) blogger dismissed for her blog. The book deal is in the works already I’m sure…
Apparently the CIA doesn’t take kindly to bloggers either.
07.15.06
Signs that your co-worker is maintaining a secret blog
It’s the thing we’re most afraid of: getting caught blogging about work, at work. Stories of bloggers getting busted for their blogs abound; sometimes transforming the “victims” into temporary blog celebrities. In most cases, someone getting outed for their blog translates into them being summarily dismissed. Most employers don’t take kindly to having (secret) bloggers in their midst. Bosses aren’t happy having to deal with having their neuroses ripped apart and documented. Co-workers don’t take kindly to being mocked. Heavens knows why.
I’ve read many a blog article focusing on how to keep your blog anonymous and your work and blog life separate. But what some of us need to know is how to catch a blogger red-fingered.
You want to be a Hardy Boy (or a Nancy Drew)? Here’s your chance.
1) Sam the Supply Guy seems to be a bit too interested in everything that happens in the office. He’s lurking, he’s overhearing, he’s set up mirrors around every corner. You once caught him attempting to put a homemade tracking device (created from paperclips, lots of paper clips) into your pocket. You look online and see an “Overheard in the Office” blog that uncannily reproduces parts of conversations you’ve had. Sam might be leading a secret blog life. Just maybe.2) Wendy the Intern: friendly, professionally flirtatious, and everyone’s favorite gal. She has a whiff of party girl about her and there have been audio (but no visual) confirmation of a lower back tattoo. Wendy has been sighted furtively typing away at what looks like an online journal. Highly suspicious, highly potentially guilty. Must investigate further. Dinner and drinks perhaps.
3) Gerard, the stoic but efficient co-worker who works three cubicles down is always seen at other people’s desks when they’re on vacation. He says he’s checking their computer for viruses. You know better; he’s looking for personal emails he can post to his blog. Serve him a big brother style “cease and desist” email. Then turn around, stab him in the back, and report him to the higher ups to secure that big promotion you’ve been waiting for.
4) The Tech Guy (real name unknown) is seen walking around taking pictures of everything. He says they’re for reference pictures to map out the wireless acoustics of the office so that he can better capture wild signals. You know he’s a blogger trying to start a geek photoblog. Go get’em tiger.
5) Your boss pulls you into his office and requests that you pen an “amusing, honest, insightful, and market driven” blog in his name that will make him look like a TIME Magazine “Man of the Year” candidate. You request the leeway to fudge a few facts and figures. You’re fired for your insolence.
There it is, some fine examples of how to tell your co-worker is maintaining a secret blog. Expose them for the bloggers they are. Don’t let uncensored blogging happen at your place of work. Rise up.
07.10.06
The future of blogging (as seen in 2005)
In April 2005, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania produced an article looking at blogging and looking towards the future of the medium.
“Will bloggers upend the mainstream media? What legal protections should bloggers have? Is there a blogger business model? While no definitive answers exist just yet, experts at Wharton advise questioners to be patient. Blogging, they note, will be around for a long time.
Wharton legal studies professor Dan Hunter puts blogging right up there with the printing press when it comes to sharing ideas and disseminating information. ‘This is not a fad,” Hunter says. ‘It’s the rise of amateur content, which is replacing the centralized, controlled content done by professionals.’”
The article closes with a quote from an information technology consulting guru that takes a pessimistic view towards blogging’s growth.
“While most agree that blogging will continue to be popular, its next steps are uncertain. Demopoulos suggests that blogging overexposure is on the horizon. ‘Right now, blogging is trendy,’ he says. ‘I see that lasting a few years, but it will slow down.’”
Media members and insitutions are always wondering when the blogger boom will be over. What’s the answer? Is it already over? Or has it just begun?
07.07.06
20 Best Blog Designs
CSS Bloom presents a list of “The Best 20 Blog Designs.”
“CSS Bloom is a website showcasing the best CSS based designs used by Blog’s and Online Portfolio’s. By providing links, and previews of the best designs, we aim to provide our viewers with inspiration for their websites.”
07.06.06
Rocket, boom.
Popular and pioneering vblog Rocketboom has lost their premier on-camera personality, Amanda Congdon. Rocketboom delivers news and views with a sense of humor that has attracted a dedicated cadre of fans. Ms. Congdon said, “I’ve been writing, I’ve been producing, I’ve been hosting Rocketboom for over a year and half. I’m not willing to be moved down to be a face. That’s so old media.” What does Ms Congdon’s departure mean for Rocketboom? Let’s see how the drama unfolds shall we? [additional article]
07.05.06
Young, Broke and Not So Fabulous?
“Young and Broke (a personal finance blog for the younger-than-25 crowd) is largely without the eye-glazing chatter about diversified stocks and P/E ratios you often find on other sites. Mostly, it’s just helpful tips and links that hammer home a simple message for the college and post-college set: Time is on your side. Save your pennies. Here’s how.
(Amanda) Gleason, 24, lives in Chicago and works at a financial services firm. Frustrated by the lack of information for young people about how to start investing, she began her blog a year after college graduation to help others her age make their way in the world of personal finance.”
-A Blog For The Young and Broke, baltimoresun.com-
