Cult of Mac

For those who love Apple, here's Wired's blog covering everything and anything related to Apple's products and news.

Best Blogs: Social Calls

Want to learn how social entrepreneurs do good (or not)? Three blogs take you inside the nonprofit world and show how organizations deliver results.

Donor Power Blog

Houtlust Nonprofit Advertising

Philanthropy 2225

Blog Demographics--One Blog's Data Points

Here are some blogging stats collected by Guy Kawasaki during a recent readership survey, click here. A total of 1,631 people responded. These are my ten of his favorite stats:

1. 39% are outside the U.S.

2. 45% live in households that make more than $100,000/year

3. 58% have no children

4. 24% are a CEO/President/Chairperson/Owner

5. 12% read my blog more than once a day

6. 12% have spent $5,000 or more in the past year on gadgets

7. 52% place comments on blogs and sites

8. 82% of you get asked for advice on technology

9. 39% rarely travel by air for business

10. 31% consider yourself an expert on consumer electronics gadgets

It seems to me that these results would describe most readers of tech/marketing/entrepreneurship blogs if you’re looking for this sort of information.

Beginner's Guide to Digg

I recently read a great explanation of Digg by Neil Patel of Pronet Advertising. It’s called the Beginner’s Guide to Digg. If you’re a blogger and want to increase page views, you should read it.

How to Launch a Career With Your Blog

How your blog can get you the career of your dreams--if you are willing to work at it.

Putting blogs to work for Wall Street

Collective Intellect has a goal: Make bloggers work for The Man.

SEO

Needing help in understanding SEO [search engine optimization]? Check out the SEO Blog site.

Charities Blog

Here's a blog site whose main focus is the world of charities. The site covers such categories as disaster relief, fundraising, Paul Newman's efforts in pursuit of common good, and more.

Check out the sites 'navigation' button.

Add a favicon to your blog

It is great to have your blog as something distinct from the rest of the other blogs in the blogosphere. Be it in the way it looks via the template or the way you converse with your readers, there’s something about a blog that exudes the aura of the person behind it. And there are also other things like the favicon.

What is a favicon?

You probably surf the ‘Net everyday and you see on the address bar on your browser a small icon beside the URL of a site or a blog. If you add site to your favorite bookmarks, you could also see that little icon. I personally think that it is great to have those little icons because it helps me sort out which site is which. A simple glance at it and - voila! - I easily identify it. You could also put one on your blog if you like.

How do you put a favicon?

It’s not very difficult. You need to decide on what icon you would like to put there. It could from a picture, a drawing or a logo that you made. I recommend that you use a simple image. Why? You need to see something that could be distinguised at 16×16pixels. Using your favorite graphics software, create one. You could probably use a bigger canvas like 64×64 pixels then just resize it later. Save the file as .ico. If you are using Photoshop, you need to install a plugin which you get from here. Make sure you name it as favicon.ico.

After you created your favicon, upload it at the directory with your index or home file. Then, you have to put this at the header of the files on your site:

<link rel="shortcut icon" href="favicon.ico" >

If you test it and it doesn’t show up right away, just do a refresh. The next time someone visits your blog and bookmarks it, your favicon will show up. This would help you in making your blog distinct, indeed.

Technorati Tags: images, branding, blogs, favicons

The Blog Herald: Podcast

The leading source of news covering the blogosphere, Web 2.0, new technology, and related topics.

Useful links for the very beginner in blogging

How to Start a Blog

Working Smart

Askmen: How to Blog

How to Start A Blog

Starting a Blog

BattleStar Galactica starts tonight!

For those who are die hard fans, check out not only their Scifi web site, but two of their blogs:

Sun CEO says blogs should satisfy SEC disclosure rules

A prominent Silicon Valley chief executive has asked U.S. market regulators to accept his blog entries as adequate to meet certain corporate disclosure requirements.

Blogs to books: A six-figure industry?

Bloggers are scoring rich paydays by turning their online diaries into books, but some publishers say the craze could fizzle out with a glut of new titles destined to yield disappointing sales.

Ok, one more corporate blog of the week: Sun

In an AP story that ran in the San Jose Mercury News and dozens of other papers, reporter Rachel Konrad writes about Sun's CEO Jonathan Schwarty, who is the most persistent evangelist for top dog bloggers.

Check John's blog site.

A bird? A plane? A New kind of corporate blog?

Dave Balter, author of Grapevine and founder of BzzAgent, is up to something intriguing. Today he launched a new company blog called The Bento Box.

Take a look. It's kind of a blog as performance art. (Be sure to click on the image to listen to the audio segments.) BzzAgent has hired two high profile contributors to create the blog: John Butman, a professional writer and author; and artist Seth Minkin.

Corporate Blog of the Week: Google

Official weblog, with news of new products, events and glimpses of life inside the Googleplex.

NYC Bloggers

There are a million blogs in the city; here's where to find them.

Bloggers: A Portrait of the Internet's New Storytellers

A telephone survey of a nationally-representative sample of bloggers, conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, has found that blogging is inspiring a new group of writers and creators to share their voices with the world.

View the full report -- Bloggers: A Portrait of the Internet's New Storytellers.

Read Blogs in your Native Text

Nativetext is a very interesting concept in the RSS field. What this service provides is simply, a translation of any RSS feed into your native tongue. The difference between this service and other translation services is the fact that the translations are created by humans, not machines.

Jobster

Jobster's web site is for making successful career matches between employers and prospective employees. The site, www.jobster.com, enables individuals to easily search millions of jobs from thousands of sources, create dynamic professional profiles, read and provide user-generated content about the real scoop inside companies, and meet people who share common interests and career goals. The Web 2.0 features incorporated into the site let individuals easily tag their own skill sets for self-promotion, mark people as favorites (called “faves”), leave notes for their fans, and easily add wiki-like content to the site. Check out their blog site here.

Craig Newmark's Blog

Craig Newmark, founder of Craig's List, has been blogging since September of 2003.
Take a look here.

FeedMap= Bogs + Maps

Using FeedMap you can geo-code your blog, browse already geo-coded blogs and search for blogs.

Intuit Case Study: All Action, No Talk for QuickBooks Online blog

Paul Rosenfeld, General Manager of Intuit’s QuickBooks Online, and his team had a great idea: why not start a blog to communicate with – and learn from - their 35,000 customers?

Blogging for Home Improvements

Check out how Houseblogs has set up a community-powered improvement publication. Everything seen on the blog site is contributed by people who have a passion for homes and home improvement.

Also take a look at the authors own home improvement site here.

University of Florida Adds Vidoblogs to News Site

The University of Florida newsroom is a great example of how to use blog software for non-blog-specific uses. The site, located at: news.ufl.edu, uses Wordpress for content management of a traditional media relations site.

In the past week UF has added videoblogs to the mix of content available online. So far there are two video segments available for download. One on Reading Readiness and the other on a Pesticide Breast Impact study.

The site is truly a one-stop shop. In addition to the new video segments it also offers: podcasts, photographs, press releases, e-mail distribution, rss and an events calendar. If you're looking for a great example of how to develop an online newsroom, check out UF.

Fortune 500 Business Blogging Wiki

Here is a directory of Fortune 500 companies that have business blogs, defined as: active public blogs by company employees about the company and/or its products.

IBM: Blogging Means Business

IBM execs Harriet Pearson and Willy Chiu discss the power of building communities in the marketplace via blogging.

Blogging for big bucks

Read the article on how to make bucks in blogging in Business 2.0.

Blog sites stemming from this article to check out:
1.TechCrunch
2.Federated Media
3.Fark

Why do economists spend valuable time blogging?

“CLEARLY there is here a problem of the division of knowledge, which is quite analogous to, and at least as important as, the problem of the division of labour,” Friedrich Hayek told the London Economic Club in 1936. What Mr Hayek could not have known about knowledge was that 70 years later weblogs, or blogs, would be pooling it into a vast, virtual conversation.

del.icio.us Blog

del.icio.us is a social bookmarking service that allows users to tag, save, manage and share Web pages from a centralized source. With emphasis on the power of the community, del.icio.us greatly improves how people discover, remember and share on the Internet. Check out their blog site.

7 Tips for Successful Blogging

So, you have a blog! Do you have traffic? Do you know how to build traffic to your weblog? There are seven proven methods for building readership of your blog. They start with defining the purpose, or life, of your blog. Then, after you have a blog worth promoting, driving traffic is crucial to your ongoing success at blogging. Read more about Michele Schermerhorn's blogging tip.

Barging Into the Bloggers' Circle

When Nokia Corp released its camera smartphone last fall, the marketing campaign cut back on news releases and flashy ads. Instead, the company sent sample products to 50 tech-savvy amateur bloggers with a passion for mobile phones.

Blogger jailed after defying court orders

A freelance journalist and blogger was jailed after refusing to turn over video he took at an anticapitalist protest last summer in San Francisco, and after refusing to testify before a grand jury looking into accusations that crimes were committed at the protest.

Time article about Josh Wolf.

Google Earth Blog

For those who like using Google Earth, here's a great blog site on the subject called Google Earth Blog.

Blogging her way

SAN JOSE, Calif.--In what might be the largest-ever event of its kind, hundreds of women bloggers will gather for the second annual BlogHer conference.

Other related female bloggers in the San Francisco bay area worth checking out:

www.svmoms.com-A new blog with daily observations of parenting life in the San Francisco Bay Area by 40 local mothers.

www.forrester.typepad.com/charleneli-Charlene Li, an analyst at Forrester Research, chronicles trends in technology and life.

www.svmedialaw.com-A blog about law, e-commerce and venture capital by Cathy Kirkman, a partner at Palo Alto law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati.

www.gracedavis.typepad.com-Grace Davis of Santa Cruz writes primarily about life and motherhood. She gained fame for quickly launching the Hurricane Katrina Direct Relief blog soon after the hurricane hit to help survivors.

www.christine.net-Christine Herron, a venture capitalist, writes about technology, socity and investing.

Successful Blog(gers)

Here's a great blog site by Liz Strauss. For Liz, her blog, lets her talk aboutrandom wondering and philosophy, is known for stories that relight memories and for the way it inspires readers to join her as she wonders about crayons, idiosyncracies, and things that don’t fit.

2web

2web is a group of Australian bloggers and entrepreneurs who are passionate about web 2.0. What they all have in common is that through their businesses and blogging they develop, implement and evangelise web 2.0 ideas around web services, open standards, new media, blogs and the web as a platform.

What does that blog term mean?

Here's a helpful blog glossary to help you understand some of the terminology.

Bloghop

Bloghop's mission is to match blogs with readers!If you're searching for a blog, you can tagsurf to blogs that match your interest.

The Windy City and its Bloggers

Directory of area weblog sites, listed on a route map of el, subway, and rail stations.

Bloggers: A portrait of the internet's new storytellers

The ease and appeal of blogging is inspiring a new group of writers and creators to share their voices with the world.

A national phone survey of bloggers finds that most are focused on describing their personal experiences to a relatively small audience of readers and that only a small proportion focus their coverage on politics, media, government, or technology. Blogs, the survey finds, are as individual as the people who keep them. However, most bloggers are primarily interested in creative, personal expression – documenting individual experiences, sharing practical knowledge, or just keeping in touch with friends and family.

Read the PDF Report

Web 2.0...Blogging in Peru

The global nature of the blogosphere and its rapid global penetration is misunderstood and poorly represented in the US centric view of blogging.

Blogging from the Belly of Beirut

As the Israeli-Lebanese conflict boils over, moderates on both sides seek understanding and reconciliation -- and they're finding each other online.

How To Write A Better Blog?

Guy Kawasaki, former Apple guru and Forbes.com columnist, interviews David Sifry, the founder and CEO of Technorati, on writing better blogs, manual pinging, tagging, etc. Worth a read.

Report: Spammers Shift to Blogs and IM

The increased effectiveness of spam filters for e-mail and the lack of any such filters for newer communication technologies, such as blogs and instant messaging, are part of the reason spammers have turned to new channels to distribute their messages, explained Paul Stamp, an analyst at Forrester.

V7N Technology Blog site

The V7N Technology Blog is more than just geek news about gadgets. It’s a blog about the very Internet. Laws that affect you as an Internet user; technology that affects you as an Internet user

Bluepulse Blogger widget

Developers at bluepulse have whipped up a Blogger widget for their mobile phone platform; here are a few details from their post about it:

• Supports HTML, so you can link to a site, another post, or another blog from your post
• Supports multiple Blogger blogs.
  
• Create a new post, or edit an existing post from the widget and republish it
• Save a post as a draft and then edit and publish it from the widget or your desktop later

Check it out!

Polluting The Blogosphere

Bloggers are getting paid to push products. Disclosure is optional.

OurStory

Go beyond blogging. Tell the your story and share in the journey and keep it forever.

Blogs, wikis, and Web 2.0 as the next application platform

IBM is planning to use Web 2.0 software like wikis as a foundation upon which to build so-called situational software.

Famed Microsoft blogger Scoble leaves for start-up

The world's most famous corporate blogger, Robert Scoble, credited with helping to break down a siege mentality at his employer, Microsoft Corp., confirmed on Sunday that he is leaving to join a recently formed Silicon Valley Internet media start-up.

Oh yes, about that media start-up...Pod Tech

Forbe video interview with Robert Scoble discussing value of business blogs.

Video bloggers ready to incite 'media revolution'

As Jordan Nealy blows out four candles on her birthday cake in South Carolina, Irina Slutsky interviews a technology executive in Texas, and Helene Cardona recites a poem from a train platform in Los Angeles. Read on here.

Can You Digg it?

Have you noticed while your are reading online you see a prompt to "digg" this story?

We have one on the bottom of each of our full page posts that looks like this: Digg

What is Digg?
It's is a technology news website that combines social bookmarking, blogging, and syndication with non-hierarchical, democratic editorial control. Read more.

Web 2.0 and Blogging

One of the most highly touted features of the Web 2.0 era is the rise of blogging. Personal home pages, personal diaries, and personal opinion, have been around since the early days of the web, so what is the fuss all about?

FeedBurner

Do you know where your feeds are? Do you know who is reading them?

Feedburner gives bloggers a simple way of finding out exactly how many people were reading your feed, how many of those people were clicking on items and which items they were following up on.

Read more

BlogPulse

BlogPulse is an automated trend discovery system for blogs. Blogs, a term that is short for weblogs, represent the fastest-growing medium of personal publishing and the newest method of individual expression and opinion on the Internet. BlogPulse applies machine-learning and natural-language processing techniques to discover trends in the highly dynamic world of blogs. BlogPulse is brought to you by Nielsen BuzzMetrics.

Liberals, courting bloggers, bow to Net's growing power

A new political movement is taking root this week at the first Yearly-Kos convention, a gathering of liberal bloggers bent on revolutionizing American politics through the power of the Internet.

Newspapers woo bloggers with mixed results

Plenty of papers are blogging. But mixing old-time news gathering with new "citizen journalism" isn't always easy.

Yahoo! Video Team Blog

As you may have read on today’s SearchBlog, Yahoo re-launched Video Search with a whole new look and a number of features, including improved comprehensiveness and search, uploading, and tagging and sharing of videos from across the Web. Check out the complete post to read more about what’s new.

More About Photo Blogging

How are digital cameras and photo sites changing photography and the Web? Andrew Long , editor of "Fotolog.book: A Global Snapshot for a Digital Age," and Adam Seifer , co-founder of Fotolog , were online to discuss the rise of photo blogging.

Photoblogs

Photoblogs.org is a resource designed to help people find all kinds of photoblogs. If you're not sure what a photoblog is, check out their FAQ.

Apple thwarted in bid to unmask leaker

Apple Computer suffered a setback in its effort to plug an internal leak, after a state appeals court ruled that the computer maker can't immediately get its hands on records of who may have contacted an Apple enthusiast site with details on an unreleased product.

Tivo Fan's

For those who can't live without their Tivo, checkout their blog site.

Into The Wild Blog Yonder

The once-secretive Boeing opens itself up -- to employees, customers, and the public...via blogging.

Blog Links to Visit

Below are links related to blogging, courtesy of the New York Times:

• Linkology: How the 50 Most Popular Blogs Are Related
• The Early Years: A Timeline of Blogging
• Five Cool Blogs to Check Out Now
• Meet the Bloggers
• The Long Tail Theory: Why B-list Blogs Can Make It, Too

The Blog Establishment

Blogs to Riches

The first massively popular blogs—built from blood, sweat, and the democratically earned approval of tough-to-please Websurfers—were the kind of success stories everyone loves. But these days, a lot of aspiring Internet barons are discovering that the online aristocracy is about as tough to crack as any other.

Better Blogging Coming to Six Apart

"Do you have a blog?" Anil Dash, VP at blogging company Six Apart, kept asking as people came up to his booth at the Maker Faire. Some people did, some didn't. At least everybody seemed to know what blogs are. I have a TypePad blog (TypePad is Six Apart's paid blog hosting service), so I took the opportunity to say so and to complain about the ser... Read more

Marketers told to keep steadfast watch on blogs

Big companies' ad buyers are warming up to the likes of blogs, RSS and podcasts.

S.J. court to weigh blogger's rights

At PowerPage.org, a Pennsylvania blogger offers up a daily menu of passionate online dish about all things Apple Computer. It looks like just another run-of-the-mill site in the vast and exploding blogosphere -- advertisements, links and an introduction that says ``Publishing since 1995.''

Blogosphere suffers spam explosion

Boing Boing would allow its readers to leave comments and engage in a discussion on the wildly popular blog, if it weren't for spam.

Build Your Blog to Build Your Career

With 40,000 blogs launched each day, blogs have become an excellent way for you to build and promote your personal brand...

Blogging for Beginners

Welcome to Blogging for Beginners Series. The series is based largely upon the questions regularly receive from newer bloggers.

By the way - if you enjoy these posts and want to keep in touch with ProBlogger subscribe to their weekly email update and/or track them by their RSS feed.

A new Blog Book in Town

Creating a blog is extremely easy, and you don't need a web designer or any knowledge of HTML code. Wibbels compares the features of several popular bogging sites and provides a tutorial on creating and maintaining your blog.

Ajax

Ajax Blog is a blog site that focuses on Ajax technology, Web 2.0 design and advanced programming techniques.

Blog Design for Beginners

Design can add tremendous value to a blog. When it comes to making money with your blog, proper web design can make a huge impact on your bottom line.

Wal-Mart enlists bloggers in P.R. campaign

Brian Pickrell, a blogger, recently posted a note on his Web site attacking state legislation that would force Wal-Mart Stores to spend more on employee health insurance. "All across the country, newspaper editorial boards--no great friends of business--are ripping the bills," he wrote.

Do's and don'ts of corporate blogging

Know your audience, update your blog regularly, and cover your... rear. And don't expect a blog to turn around a failing company.

MyMoneyBlog: Personal Finance Blog

MyMoneyBlog, another "personal financial tracking blog", chronicles the progress and insights of Jonathan, 27 and married, with almost $90,000 in the bank. With posts starting in December 2004, MyMoneyBlog is a senior citizen in the world of personal finance blogs.

BlogBurst

BlogBurst is a syndication service that places your blog on top-tier online destinations. You get visibility, audience reach and traffic, while publishers weave the rich and diverse fabric of the blogosphere into their sites.

Publish and Prosper: Blogging for Your Business

Here's a blogging book due out in May of 2006.

Written from three businessperson/designer’s perspectives, this book details how businesses are blogging and why you should be blogging. Filled with practical information and a how-to approach, this book will provide all the in-the-trenches tools and techniques for blog business success.

Homeless man blogs about his experience

In a different time, Michael Brown's story might have gone untold.

But after Brown, 43, and his family were evicted from their northeast Greensboro home earlier this month, he turned to the public library and its computers for answers. Once online, he couldn't find what he was looking for: advice from someone who was homeless.

Blogging's rise causes workplace issues

Amy Joyce talks about how the number of bloggers continues to grow, but the number of workplace policies explaining the company's rules on blogging remains anemic.

Apple Junkie?

Here's a great blog site for those of you who are Apple junkies...unofficial of course.

Problogger

Yet another way of making a living from blogging.

The Top 10 interesting people in the Blogosphere in 2005

Blog Herald came out with a list of the top ten interesting people in the Blogosphere for 2005.

Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes

Blogs are often too internally focused and ignore key usability issues, making it hard for new readers to understand the site and trust the author. Jakob Nielsen offers his inputs to what you should consider when building your blog site.

Blog Sites of the Week: In the Category of Art

1-MoCoLoco:Modern contemporary design and architecture.

2-We-Make-Money-Not-Art: Blog tracking everything from art and architecture to gadgets, nanotechnology, robots, and trends.

3-Pongomania: A hangout for creatures made of Pongo clay.

4-Mail Art Postcard Exhibition: Features cards made entirely by hand as well as completely digital creations.

Alpha: The CNT Blog

Check out CNET's Alpha blog, covering everthing from camcorders, digital cameras,work technology...

Blogger Gains Following With Iraq Reports

He didn't have to go, it wasn't his job and nobody paid him to do it. But Michael Yon says he went to Iraq because he wanted to see for himself what was going on.

6th Annual Weblog Awards: The 2006 Bloggies

After being a few days late to post the finalists, the 2006 Bloggies are finally up and ready to be voted on. 9rules members up for an award:

* Drawn! for Best New Weblog, written by 9ruler John Martz.
* 456 Berea Street for Best Web Development Weblog, written by Roger Johansson.
* Particle Tree for Best Web Development Weblog, written by Kevin Hale, Ryan Campbell, and Chris Campbell.
* Girlspoke for Best Podcast of a Weblog, written by It looks like the Girlspoke girls are having some server troubles right now, so hopefully they make it back up to pick up some votes.

So get to votin’!

Blog Site of the Week

Diva Marketing Blog is an approach to marketing that's fun, bold and savvy...but always strategically aligned with your brands's objective.

Pick Your Community

9rules offers a community of blogs covering the best blogs and favorote topis to select, ranging from Apple, Design, Photography. Relationships, Web 2.0,...

New Blog Book in town

I recommend reading the newly published book: Naked Conversations by Robert Scoble/Shel Israel.


About the Authors:

Robert Scoble helps run Microsoft’s Channel 9 Web site. He began his blog in 2000 and now has more than 3.5 million readers every year. Scoble’s blog has earned acclaim in Fortune magazine, Fast Company, and The Economist.

Shel Israel played a key strategic role in introducing some of technology’s most successful products, including PowerPoint, FileMaker, and Sun Microsystems workstations.He’s been an expert on innovation for more than twenty years.

Venture Capital Blogs?

Bill Burnham was having lunch with a fellow venture capitalist at a restaurant in Mountain View, Calif., two weeks ago when the topic turned to secrecy.

Blogs put megaphone up to Sundance buzz

As befits its indie roots, the Sundance Film Festival has long played host to innovations that have spread elsewhere. Blogging is one of them. Personal blogs, millions of them, are spreading on the Internet like kudzu, from LiveJournal.com to MySpace.com. Professional blogs such as Gawker Media's gossipy Defamer.com draws some 270,000 page views per day.

Business blogging hits the road

Hurricane Katrina was a defining moment for Rachel Gradwohl, a frequent business traveler.

BorgBlog

Take a peek over Jim Borgman’s shoulder as he creates editorial cartoons for the Enquirer. Look here for notes, doodles and rough pencil sketches as he draws throughout the day… Borgman has been the Enquirer’s editorial cartoonist since 1976.

Web2.0 Workgroup

The Web 2.0 Workgroup is a network of premium weblogs that write content about the new generation of the Web. Combined, these sites reach a large readership of influential technology and media professionals.

Monkey Bites

Here's a great blog site from the people of Wired magazine. Everything you need to know about software that makes the web tick, and how you can put it to use on your own website and digital media projects.

When in Rome...or Beijing

Microsoft shuts down the internet journal of a Chinese blogger that discussed politically sensitive issues.

ComputerWorld Blogs

ComputerWorld has a great blog site covering such topics as featured blogs, security, Macintosh, and more.

Why Companies Monitor Blogs

In May 2003, the consumer advocacy group Ban Trans Fat sued Kraft Foods, demanding that the comestibles giant stop selling its Oreo cookies in California.

Who's There?

Seth Godin shares his thoughts about how to write better or how to follow the traditional conventions about formatting and building a blog. Here's the PDF file.