BYTE MARKS
Stage set for first shots in blog wars
By Burt Lum
Stage set for first shots in blog wars
The Internet is heating up again. It reminds me of the days when Netscape ruled and Microsoft hadn't quite figured out what the Web was. Shortly thereafter, Microsoft figured it out and released Internet Explorer. AOL bought Netscape, and the Microsoft vs. AOL wars started.
Five years later, we all know who won.
The scenario is repeating itself, but this time with upstart Google leading the charge.
Google is synonymous with searching the Internet. Earlier this month Google rolled out its free 1GB e-mail service called Gmail. They launched the beta version of Orkut, a social-networking software.
Last year, Google bought Pyra Labs, creators of Blogger.com Web-log software. Last month Reuters reported that at a CEO summit, Bill Gates touted the benefits of blogs as a business communications tool.
The stage is set for another showdown.
All this talk about blogging got me interested in taking a second look at Blogger.com. With the obvious posting and publishing to a free Web log aside, what new innovations are now available on Blogger.com?
I dusted off my three-year old account, bytemarks.blogspot.com, and found some notable improvements.
There are many templates to choose from. Gone are the one-size-fits-all approach. Now you can choose from a variety of styles and change them to your heart's content.
An additional new feature is something called BlogThis!
If you happen to be visiting a Web site and want to automatically post and comment about it to your blog, BlogThis! makes it a one-step process.
Another one-step process I craved and now found staring me in the face was that of posting directly to your blog from e-mail. It's as easy as e-mailing yourself.
Posting a photo, as in moblogging, is slightly more difficult. Blogger requires a program called Hello to send pictures from your Windows computer to your blog.
The widespread popularity of blogging has certainly got the eye of the big boys.
How this ends up is anybody's guess. My support goes to the underdog.
;-)
Reach Burt Lum at bytemarks@gmail.com.
