Canadian Blogs

Maclean’s to go full blog? via Werner Patels - A Dose of Common Sense November 20th, 2008 at 05:54

Unnoticed and on the sly, Maclean's magazine has turned its entire website, and thus the online version of the printed magazine, into a blog. Before the magazine content would be on the main site, accompanied by blogs. Now, however, the entire site has been turned into a blog, which is also borne out by the fact that the URL macleans.ca is now redirected to blogs.macleans.ca. As a result, even the articles from the printed magazines now appear as full blog posts complete with a comments feature. Is this a cost-cutting measure in these difficult economic times, or could this...

In Blogging, Maclean's, Magazines, Business, Media, Finance and Economics

The “Real” Dan Lyons Could Never Exist At Newsweek — Or Forbes, For That Matter via Deep Jive Interests November 19th, 2008 at 02:39

You may have heard that Dan “Fake Steve Jobs” Lyon was forced to yank a couple of posts — and that he’s threatened (or may have actually) left his blogging post over the fact. Although Valleywag does a nice timeline and decries the loss of another “real” voice in the tech blogosphere (note to Valleywag: there’s no shortage of them, you just need to know where to look), I suspect it was just a matter of time before the “real” Dan Lyons either a) threatened to leave, or b) got his crusty ass bum ass tossed to the curb. Why? Only because when you’re blogging for a corporate entity — like Newsweek, or Forbes — where reputation and relationships matter … specifically, those that aren’t your own, but those of...

In valleywag, Fake Steve Jobs, Dan Lyons, Getting Fired, Blogging

Blogging in the mainstream? via Werner Patels - A Dose of Common Sense November 17th, 2008 at 09:35

Blogging, particularly political blogging, is considered by many to have moved into the mainstream, especially after the last U.S. election. As a result, some of the early adopters of Web 2.0 have thrown in the towel, because blogging is no longer "revolutionary" or "maverick" enough – such as Jason Calacanis. If this is their true reason for ending their blogging careers, it is foolish one. From the start, bloggers have craved the kind of recognition usually reserved for the mainstream media. Now that many of us have achieved mainstream status, are we seeing a revolution that eats its children?...

In Weblogs, Mainstream media, Twitter, Blogging

Reader feedback in Web 2.0 via Werner Patels - A Dose of Common Sense October 28th, 2008 at 18:05

Newspapers and magazines have always done this: print reader feedback in the form of letters-to-the-editor. In the spirit of open dialogue, readers send in their comments on articles they have read, which are then redacted by editors for brevity, validity and form. In the age of Web 2.0, i.e., blogging and message boards, we have seen just about anyone post comments on websites. Most of them, however, would never be printed in a respectable publication. The vast majority of commenters shroud themselves in anonymity and fill their comments with profanities and insults. The question that arises is why Web...

In Web 2.0, comments, Editor's Note, Blogging

Blogging is Dead via Vancouver Blog Miss 604 by Rebecca Bollwitt October 27th, 2008 at 18:58

Copyright © 2008 Miss604 - Rebecca Bollwitt. If you are not viewing this post through the Miss604.com feed then this content has been republished without permission. Visit the original article at http://www.miss604.com/2008/10/blogging-is-dead.html.Parsing through my Delicious links this morning I came across two articles that John sent me (yes, I become giddy when I notice my husband tagged something for me in Delicious). The title of the first bookmark was “Blogs More Relevant Than Ever” and the next one, right on top of that listing was, “Blogs are so over”. The interesting thing is that they are both referencing a Wired article by Paul Boutin. Thinking about launching your own blog? Here’s some friendly advice: Don’t. And if you’ve already...

In Internet, Blogs, geeky, Blogging

Crap! via Booberfish.com October 26th, 2008 at 18:33

I admit, I’m mostly writing this because I would hate to have not blogged this entire month. (Sure, it’s technically been over a month since my last entry, but let’s not get technical.) I realised what the problem is. I still have ideas of things I want to write about, but I don’t have the same opportunity to procrastinate that I once did. For various reasons, I decided that I would not blog while at school. Or at least, not using my office computer. Unfortunately, between rowing and school, I’m only actually at home with my own computer for a couple hours a day. And those hours are typically spent eating, watching TV, and generally zoning out—not the kind of activities I need to procrastinate from (i.e., not the kind of hours I’d rather spend...

In procrastination, school, Daily Life, Rowing, time management, Blogging

New Hosting for Instigator Blog via Instigator Blog October 25th, 2008 at 21:22

I’ve moved hosting companies because my old one was falling apart. This is a quick test post to make sure the DNS is propagating properly. You should not have to update your RSS feeds, but when you see this message in your RSS feed, please click through and take a look to make sure everything is working properly. I appreciate it. There may be a few hiccups along the way as I get all the plugins re-installed and configured, so bear with me. And I do plan on blogging more in the near future, Standout Jobs has kept me swamped. Incidentally, I’ve moved to Media Temple and purchased their Grid Service (gs) hosting. I’ve heard a lot of good things about Media Temple, although immediately after purchasing I heard some bad things (from someone I trust). So we’ll see how it...

In Blogging

Vancouver Blogger Profile: The Buzzer via Vancouver Blog Miss 604 by Rebecca Bollwitt October 22nd, 2008 at 21:36

Copyright © 2008 Miss604 - Rebecca Bollwitt. If you are not viewing this post through the Miss604.com feed then this content has been republished without permission. Visit the original article at http://www.miss604.com/2008/10/vancouver-blogger-profile-the-buzzer.html.It’s 92 years young and a staple of transit cars in the greater Vancouver area. The portable, printed, paper newsletters informing you about the latest in transit trends is now online with The Buzzer Blog. I did a quick blogger profile interview with Jhenifer Pabillano who has been writing The Buzzer since January 2008, and now blogging and podcasting over the last few weeks. Who are you? Ooh, that’s a very Nardwuar question. Well, I’m Jhenifer Pabillano, and I edit the print Buzzer for TransLink. I’m also the...

In Vancouver, transit, interview, blogger profile, Internet, Blogs, Blogging

Vancouver Film and Television Blogging via Vancouver Blog Miss 604 by Rebecca Bollwitt October 16th, 2008 at 16:44

Copyright © 2008 Miss604 - Rebecca Bollwitt. If you are not viewing this post through the Miss604.com feed then this content has been republished without permission. Visit the original article at http://www.miss604.com/2008/10/vancouver-film-and-television-blogging.html.Ever since the days of 21 Jump Street, I knew that shows were filmed and produced in Vancouver. In my more formative years, the X-Files was represented the pinnacle of Vancouver television production and after I ran into Arnold at TGIFriday’s on Robson and Burrard (that is now Red Robin) I finally understood that the film industry in Vancouver is a big deal. In all honesty, running into the future Governator at a casual dining restaurant didn’t really cause any sort of epiphany, but it was symbolic at any...

In Film, movies, TV, media event, Vancouver, Blogging

DemocraticSPACE Election Blog: Forgot to pay the bills? via Werner Patels - A Dose of Common Sense October 14th, 2008 at 07:00

This is a bummer, and probably somewhat embarrassing for the owner of the site/blog, but the Election Blog at Democraticspace.com has been inaccessible all day – 24 hours ahead of the election! At first, the site would load and load, and then the browser announced a Page Not Found error. Later in the day, the mystery was solved, as the following message appeared where the blog was supposed to be: This Account Has Been SuspendedPlease contact the billing/support department as soon as possible. Looks like someone didn't pay his bill .... is this a sign of those rotten economic...

In Liberals, Political blogs, DemocraticSPACE, Weblogs, Blogging

Vancouver Blogger Profile: Stephen Rees via Vancouver Blog Miss 604 by Rebecca Bollwitt October 13th, 2008 at 18:52

Copyright © 2008 Miss604 - Rebecca Bollwitt. If you are not viewing this post through the Miss604.com feed then this content has been republished without permission. Visit the original article at http://www.miss604.com/2008/10/vancouver-blogger-profile-stephen-rees.html.My 23rd blogger profile in the series features Stephen Rees - who is much more than a transit and eco-blogger. He’s someone that I would suggest everyone in the region (not just Vancouver) put on their list of regular reads. Photo credit: Stephen Rees on Flickr Who are you? I am a 59 year old divorced, semi-retired economist and planner. I used to work for Translink but I am pleased to say they got rid of me, so that has left me more time to be a blogger, photographer, swing bridge operator, cyclist, anti-freeway...

In Vancouver, interview, blogger profile, Blogs, Blogging

Vancouver Blogger Profile: Joe Solomon via Vancouver Blog Miss 604 by Rebecca Bollwitt October 9th, 2008 at 18:29

Copyright © 2008 Miss604 - Rebecca Bollwitt. If you are not viewing this post through the Miss604.com feed then this content has been republished without permission. Visit the original article at http://www.miss604.com/2008/10/vancouver-blogger-profile-joe-solomon.html.It’s been a little while since I added to the Miss604 Vancouver Blogger Profile series but I’m picking it up with someone who is far more than simply a blogger - Joe Solomon of EngageJoe. Photo credit: Tris on Flickr Who are you? I’m a social media consultant for nonprofits and social change projects, which basically means I help people, organizations, and start-ups use the web for good. Most recently, I’ve been working on a few web applications. For example, I wrote to Knowmore.org in February...

In Vancouver, interview, blogger profile, Blogs, Blogging

Warren Kinsella: Bloggers have become news via Werner Patels - A Dose of Common Sense October 6th, 2008 at 20:17

Warren Kinsella writes today that bloggers have become news in this current election campaign (e.g., for breaking stories on various candidates who have had to resign as a result). Warren seems to think that this a bad thing – I don't. It shows the resourcefulness of bloggers and their ability to do things that the mainstream media, apparently, couldn't. But I also detect a double standard in Warren's remarks. When a journalist breaks a story, no one is saying, including Warren, that the journalist has become news (well, except for one CBC reporter who tried to manipulate the news...

In bloggers, Warren Kinsella, Weblogs, Blogging

Blogging BS via Werner Patels - A Dose of Common Sense October 2nd, 2008 at 01:46

Robert Jago is without doubt one of the quality bloggers in Canada. But his "ranking" of blogs is not only highly subjective, but also based on totally unreliable data, and therefore complete rubbish. Problem number 1: Robert selects the blogs he includes in his "ranking" manually – a subjective choice. If a pollster excluded, for example, the Conservative Party from the choices given to respondents, even Dion could come out the winner. Problem number 2: Both Alexa and Google Page Rankings are completely unreliable because they capture only a tiny fraction of site traffic. For these services to work,...

In Google, Blogosphere, Site traffic, circulation, alexa, Weblogs, Blogging

Canada Election 2008 blog via Werner Patels - A Dose of Common Sense September 14th, 2008 at 00:34

The DemocraticSPACE 2008 Canada Election blog is now up and running – thanks to Greg Morrow. I am one of the bloggers for that site, so you'll find some of my blog posts cross-posted there. I also hope that, time permitting, I will be able to post some original posts there as...

In election, Weblogs, Blogging

Greens apologize to blogger; Albertan plumps for Duceppe via Werner Patels - A Dose of Common Sense September 12th, 2008 at 23:47

Some interesting developments in the blogosphere during this exciting election campaign. Buckdog, who was threatened with legal action by the Green Party for linking to a YouTube video of Elizabeth May's latest gaffe and impulsive language, has received an apology. What is interesting, or troubling, about the apology is this part: My actions came out of a concern to ensure that internet content is an honest and real representation of facts [...]. Since when is some Green Party apparatchik in charge of policing the blogosphere? Who made him the blogosphere's cop? Buckdog counters all that masterfully in his reply:...

In Elizabeth May, Bloc Québécois, Gilles Duceppe, Green Party, Political blogosphere, Weblogs, Blogging

IzeaFest: In Orlando, on Ted Murphy’s Dime via Deep Jive Interests September 12th, 2008 at 05:37

So, several months ago, when I was blogging (a lot) more, Ted Murphy of PayPerPost Izea fame asked me if I’d like to participate in his yearly IzeaFest, once known as “Posticon”. I’ve been pretty frank about my opinions about paid postings and at times they haven’t been … well, pretty. So why am I here on Ted Murpy’s dime? A couple reasons. First of all, I think Ted has made some strides in trying to bring bloggers and advertisers together in a win-win fashion. Blogging is a tough business, no matter what language you speak, or where you find yourself in life. It needs more friends, and that’s the sense I get from where Ted is coming from. With PPP, his intentions weren’t bad, but they may have been executed in a way that...

In Advertising, payperpost, Ted Murphy, deepjiveinterests, izeafest, Blogging

Speaking truth to government via Werner Patels - A Dose of Common Sense September 9th, 2008 at 00:50

Interesting question posed by The Economist: Who today speaks truth to power—not only in authoritarian or semi-free countries such as Russia and China but in the West as well? Answer:...

In Weblogs, Blogging

Clive Thompson returns to blogging via mathewingram.com/work September 7th, 2008 at 15:05

I’m not sure how many people noticed, but Clive Thompson — one of my favourite technology and science writers — returned to blogging this week. Clive writes regularly for the New York Times magazine, and his most recent piece was an excellent look at Twitter and the phenomenon of “ambient awareness” that such social-media tools allow, and why that’s a good thing. Clive’s blog Collision Detection used to be a treasure trove of those kinds of observations, drawn from scientific journals and various news articles, and after seven months of absence (which he says he will explain later), he is back to blogging. In analyzing and describing complicated things, Clive has a great way of humanizing things as well, often with just a simple turn of phrase....

In Media, Thompson, Blogging

Christie Blatchford caught in a fib via Werner Patels - A Dose of Common Sense September 6th, 2008 at 17:42

Christie Blatchford must feel so insecure about (and jealous of) bloggers that she felt compelled to distort the facts in her latest column by fabricating a quote by John McCain's running mate Sarah Palin: I guess they didn't believe her when she said, with that trademark wag of a finger and an outthrust chin, "Here's a little news flash - I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion. I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this great country." Hurray for that, I say. Hurray for anyone who has the cheek not to genuflect before the...

In globe and mail, Christie Blatchford, Weblogs, Blogging

Just Wanted To… via The Commentator September 1st, 2008 at 21:56

In Humour, Blogging

Thoughts on Being a Dad and a Blogger via Deep Jive Interests August 30th, 2008 at 16:37

My son is almost two now, and I find that as he’s getting older, its becoming tougher to regularly blog *and* be a Dad who is “present” at home. I’m finding something that most new parents already know: as babies turn into toddlers, and as toddlers turn into children, they actually demand more and more out of you. That’s presuming that you want to be a good parent, of course. I guess it speaks to your own blogging habits as well. I used to be able to blog when I got back from work and maybe after dinner. I used to pride myself on how fast I could blog, but even so, it takes about 20 minutes of uninterrupted time to put something even remotely intelligible. Why has blogging changed for me? Well, I just don’t have 20 minutes of uninterrupted...

In parenting, kids, Deep Jive Interests, mommy bloggers, Blogging

Some media people simply don’t get blogging via Werner Patels - A Dose of Common Sense August 21st, 2008 at 17:44

Christie Blatchford is an accomplished and talented columnist, currently covering the Olympics in Beijing for her paper, the Globe and Mail. In her most recent column, she bemoans the downsides of blogging and telling her readers that her talent should not be wasted on or consumed by something as "ephemeral" as a blog. Her comments are true of at least 95% of the blogs out there. So many bloggers share even their most inane thoughts with the rest of the world that it borders on a miracle of sorts that there is still bandwidth and disk space available for...

In Quality in blogging, Web Columnists, Christie Blatchford, Weblogs, Blogging

Vancouver Blogger Profile: Steve Jagger via Vancouver Blog Miss 604 August 21st, 2008 at 13:00

Copyright © 2008 Miss604 - Rebecca Bollwitt. If you are not viewing this post through the Miss604.com feed then this content has been republished without permission. Visit the original article at http://www.miss604.com/2008/08/vancouver-blogger-profile-steve-jagger.html.Last winter I was interviewed by one of Steve Jagger’s companies, Reachd, and once again in June on his real estate blog, Ubertor. Since then Steve has been keeping me up to date on their events and workshops (like the five that are coming up in September). He is one of the biggest success stories when it comes to industry-specific blogging in this town so I decided to find out why and how he does what he does: Who Are You? Interesting question. I would say that I’m a family oriented guy that is focused on...

In Business, Vancouver, interview, blogger profile, Blogs, Blogging

Adding Disqus and AddThis to Make Blog More Social via Instigator Blog August 20th, 2008 at 16:42

It’s almost impossible to keep track of all the latest widgets, gadgets, plugins and features available for bloggers. New stuff is coming out daily, which is understandable, there are millions and millions of bloggers, and many of them are very dedicated to blogging — that’s a nice market with interesting opportunities. Few companies have really capitalized on bloggers (except those helping them generate revenue). I expect a lot of those that offer “nice add-ons” will fall off the radar eventually. But some will survive, do well, and ultimately get acquired. Blogs are meant to be social things. (Just ask folks like Chris Brogan and Liz Strauss.) Blog success can be measured by many things (and it varies for each blog owner) but the social nature and social...

In social media, Disqus, addthis, Blogs, Blogging

Google knows what bloggers want via mathewingram.com/work August 20th, 2008 at 02:29

Boy, does Google know the way to a blogger’s heart or what? According to the Wall Street Journal, the company is setting up an 8,000 square-foot blogging playground at the Democratic National Convention (and at the subsequent Republican convention), complete with food, massages, smoothies, a candy buffet and couches to nap on — all for the measly sum of $100 for access to the “Big Tent.” The money quote in this particular story goes to Micah Sifry of TechPresident.com, who says that there isn’t really much news out of the partisan conventions once the vice-presidential candidates are picked, but “it’s a target-rich environment for bloggers.” Especially the candy-fueled kind....

In Facebook, facebook, Google, Blogs, Blogging

Vancouver Blogger Profile: Lorraine Murphy via Vancouver Blog Miss 604 August 19th, 2008 at 01:00

Copyright © 2008 Miss604 - Rebecca Bollwitt. If you are not viewing this post through the Miss604.com feed then this content has been republished without permission. Visit the original article at http://www.miss604.com/2008/08/vancouver-blogger-profile-lorraine-murphy.html.My Blogger Profile series has celebrated its anniversary, sharing link love and promoting some of the great online writers of our region for over a year now. Lorraine Murphy, probably better known as Raincoaster (her internet-famous handle) is more than just a blogger in this town, she’s a prolific queen of social media knowledge sharing and pro-blogging. Photo credit: Urban Mixer on Flickr / Raj @ UrbanMixer Who are you? Or “WHAT are you?” Other than the tentacles, I’m a pretty normal...

In urbanmixer, teenymanolo, raincoaster, Vancouver, interview, blogger profile, Blogs, Blogging

Blogging and censorship via Werner Patels - A Dose of Common Sense July 31st, 2008 at 07:35

With Canadian writers and journalists being called before human rights commissions to answer for their "sins" of politically incorrect ideas and statements, Canada finds itself at the threshold of, perhaps, setting down some clear rules for bloggers, which may also end up clarifying the status that bloggers are to have within the media. For example, politicians are debating whether partisan blogging during an election campaign should or could be counted towards the respective party's campaign limit. To me, there really is no difference between a columnist who writes for a newspaper and one who publishes his web columns online....

In Freedom of speech, censorship, Weblogs, Blogging

Cover girl [Flickr] via Vancouver Blog Miss 604 July 28th, 2008 at 21:21

miss604 posted a photo: Second cover of 24 Hours newspaper this month -...

In newspaper, press, 24hours, miss604com, cover, Media, Blogging

Oh, I’m hoping to at least… [Flickr] via Vancouver Blog Miss 604 July 28th, 2008 at 15:21

miss604 posted a photo: "no technical training before the online media gig" ... the gig EIGHT years ago NOT the one last...

In newspaper, press, 24hours, miss604com, Media, Blogging

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