New York Times looks at blogging for profit.

But while blogs may be useful to many more small businesses, even blogging experts do not recommend it for the majority.

But some companies are suited to blogging. The most obvious candidates, said Aliza Sherman Risdahl, author of “The Everything Blogging Book” (Adams Media 2006), are consultants. “They are experts in their fields and are in the business of telling people what to do.”

“As a consultant, blogging clearly helps you get hired,” she said. “If you are selling a product, you have to be much more creative because people don’t want to read a commercial.”

Blogging’s a Low-Cost, High Return Marketing Tool - New York Times

Blogged with Flock

Tags: blog, blogging, career, LookAtMe

Web browsing used to be mostly about just that: Surfing site after site for information and goods. But lately, more people are using the Internet as much to produce and share things as to consume them. A new browser called Flock seeks to address the new reality of enhanced online creativity and community.

Read the entire review @ SeattlePI.com

Flock beta is now available for download at Flock.com This is a developer preview so expect many, many bugs.

Flock Developer Preview is now available.

Our code couldn’t wait any longer to be free!

But! This preview ain’t for the faint of heart! If you’re the bleeding-edge type and don’t mind a few scrapes and busted knees from time to time, feel free to give it a whirl.

We’ve got interesting ideas in this thing. We want to know what we’ve done right how we could improve. And we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us!

So if a bucket of source code and developer binaries sound enticing, head over to our Developer page now.

Flock blogging topbar

Originally uploaded by factoryjoe.

It appears Chris Messina has posted several Flock screen shots to his flickr account. This is the first look at Flock, which has been an elusive software project with not so much as a feature list. But appears to be eagerly anticipated by the blogging public. This would be the first Web 2.0 browser, promising to integrate with blogs, RSS, flickr, and others.

All should be revealed this month as Flock should be flying the coup sometime this October. I just hope it lives up to the promise.

You can see all the Flock screenshots here.

Google has launched a new RSS reader service, akin to Bloglines. It has a few features that Bloglines does not have. In Google tradition, everything is about searching and tagging. It will show you what the author has tagged the story, plus you can add your own tags. Which is pretty cool.

Right now it is very, very slow. More like glacial actually. Probably due to the immense number of people checking out the new service. If they manage to integerate it with Gmail or integrate it with Desktop search, then I will be really impressed.

How’s this for a test. Subscribe to the Yelling Lizard feed.

As promised, Flock is gearing up for a October release.

A few more cans of blue and our first public sneak preview of the social browser will be out.

While the Flock team has been mum on exactly what exactly Flock is, they have let on that it will be a web browser built to take advantage of web 2.0 technologies.

Look for more information, hopefully very soon. Come on guys, just drink your damn Red Bull and give us a preview.

Reporters without Borders recently released the Handbook for bloggers and cyber-dissidents, which was partially funded by the French government. While it contains information on how to blog anonymously and how to circumvent censorship, it contains a great primer for what a blog is and instructions on how to blog. It’s not just for the politically oppressed, this handbook should be read by everybody. The 46 page handbook is filled with information on RSS, trackbacks, wikis, and real world examples of blogs in action.

The Introduction:

Blogs get people excited. Or else they disturb and worry them. Some people distrust them. Others see them as the vanguard of a new information revolution. Because they allow and encourage ordinary people to speak up, they’re tremendous tools of freedom of expression.
Bloggers are often the only real journalists in countries where the mainstream media is censored or under pressure. Only they provide independent news, at the risk of displeasing the government and sometimes courting arrest.
Reporters Without Borders has produced this handbook to help them, with handy tips and technical advice on how to to remain anonymous and to get round censorship, by choosing the most suitable method for each situation. It also explains how to set up and make the most of a blog, to publicise it (getting it picked up efficiently by search-engines) and to establish its credibility through observing basic ethical and journalistic principles.

Other Information:
Harvard’s Global Voices blog has a great post about the Handbook for bloggers and cyber-dissidents. The blog itself is a good read as well. You can also check out the Global Voices podcast.

Don’t forget that the EFF has already released their How to Blog Safely back in April 2005.

In case you are unable to get to RSF.org for any reason I made the handbook available to download.

What the Flock indeed. Flock is a new browser based on Firefox that is currently in private beta.

Flock is going to be a social browser that will take full advantage of Web 2.0. It will integrate with blogs, such as Wordpress, and social sites like Del.icio.us and Flickr. The best information we could find about Flock was on UNEASYsilence.

The internet has transformed into a giant melting pot of webapps / services with social network integration. It�s all about sharing isn�t it? Tags, bookmarks, photostreams, weblogs� I know all about sharing! I often find myself bouncing between dozens of tabs. One tab for del.icio.us, another for Flickr, a third for Wordpress. You get the picture. Why can�t everything be seamless? We need synergy! We need Flock.

Now the question we have is, when the Flock can we use it?

According to HitWise, Wikipedia usage has spiked 154% since the same time last year. Some point to the failing of the news media as to why Wikipedia is so successful.

I think it’s the model that Wikipedia uses is more natural. Since anyone can create and edit articles, the information is more timely and can be easily updated.

Wikipedia attracted 22.3 per cent of users searching for information about the Gaza Strip as Israeli troops closed down settlements and withdrew from the region. Wikipedia’s market share numbers meant it drew five times more traffic than Google News, Yahoo News or the BBC and tied with CIA World Factbook for information on the strip.

In fact the information on Hurricane Katrina on Wikipedia is the most detailed I have seen in one place.

Wikipedia is supported through contributions made through The Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit group.

I wish my hosting company was this dedicated. Employees of a New Orleans company hosting 800,000 websites have been holed up in their office building since Sunday. They have vowed not to let the hurricane shut them down. Crisis Manager, Michael Barnett, has been communicating to the world from his blog.

The last entry which states they are in need of diesel fuel. And are close to shutting down due to non-delivery of scheduled fuel.

Good Luck out there!

Interesting photos of the disaster from their site.

UPDATE: As of 7:15 AM they are not out of fuel yet. But the fuel truck was to be there at 6 AM.

UPDATE 2: Fuel drop successful. They will remain online.