Jerry Brown Enters World of Blogging

New York Times
Apr. 28, 2005

By AP


''Everyone who has something interesting to say cannot afford not to be saying it in a blog as well,'' said Sreenath Sreenivasan, a professor at the Columbia School of Journalism who follows the blogosphere."

"The politblog vanguard includes North Dakota, where five senators began blogging recently on The Bismarck Tribune's legislative Web site, and Minnesota, where several state legislators maintain personal blogs, including state Rep. Ray Cox, considered by the Pew project to be the first major politician to blog. A recent Cox entry detailed his ride to work, complete with digital photos."

"Some politicians' blogs have the smack of a canned release; others are little more than a string of repostings of other writers. Which leads to a commonly asked question of politblogs: Is the politician really writing it?"

"''I can't imagine that at some point we won't see someone who is to the Internet what JFK was to television and FDR was to radio,'' he (Brown) said. ''And whoever that person is, he or she is going to have a blog.''

Haffington to launch celebrity 'blog'

Los Angeles Times
April 26, 2005 A16

"Her [Huffington's] principal business partner in the venture is Ken Lerer, a former executive vice president with AOL Time Warner. Also contributing both content and financing are television producer-writer-actor Larry David and his wife, political activist Laurie David, along with several other financial backers."

"One tension here is that she is creating a blog here for people who are already part of the media conversation," said Rosenstiel, of the Project for Excellence in Journalism. "How much readership will there be for people whose voices are already being heard?"

A boldface name invites others to blog with her

New York Times
April 25, 2005 C1

"In some ways, Ms. Huffington's venture is a direct challenge to the popular Drudge Report. Started nearly a decade ago by Matt Drudge, the Drudge Report lifts potentially hot news from obscurity and blares it across a virtual "front page," usually before anyone else. While his squibs are sometimes cast with a conservative slant, his "developing" scoops often send the mainstream media scrambling to catch up."

"Ms. Huffington's effort - to be called the Huffington Post (www.huffingtonpost.com) - will also seek to ferret out potentially juicy items and give them legs. In fact, she has hired away Mr. Drudge's right-hand Web whiz, Andrew Breitbart, who used to be her researcher."

"Group blogs are not altogether new; what is new is brand-name people writing them. But it is just this aspect of the Post that is raising questions among Web watchers about whether it can succeed. Jay Rosen, who writes about blogs on his Web site (www.pressthink.org), said he doubted that celebrities would be driven by the same passion that drives many regular bloggers."

Microsoft Service lets you creat a nice blog, but limits tweaking

Wall Street Journal
April 21, 2005, b1

"Microsoft has just launched its own blogging service, called MSN Spaces (spaces.msn.com). ...Microsoft says it already has more than seven million blogs in Spaces, and is adding new ones at a rate of over 100,000 a day."

"The blogs you create in MSN Spaces can be open to as many or as few people as you choose. You can set your blog to be viewable by anyone, or only by contacts in your MSN Messenger instant messaging program, or only by a list of people you select from your MSN address book. People wishing to add comments must have a free Microsoft Passport sign-in ID. You can also turn off the commenting feature.
Each blog entry can include text, Web links and photos. Spaces has a very nice photo-album feature that lets users view slide shows. It allows you to store 30 megabytes of pictures on your blog, or about 750 images after compression.
You can also post lists of favorite songs to your MSN blog. Users who click on the songs are taken to Microsoft's online music store, where they can hear clips or buy the tunes, if they are available (some of the obscure Red Sox-related songs in my music list aren't). You can also post lists of related Web sites, books and other things."

"However, in typical Microsoft fashion, Spaces works best when you use Internet Explorer in Windows. For instance, unless you use Internet Explorer in Windows, you can't make your text bold or italic or colored. You can't turn words you enter into Web links. And you can't create separate paragraphs in your entries.
Also, users of Internet Explorer in Windows get a much nicer interface for uploading photos. And viewers of your blog get a richer experience as well by using Internet Explorer in Windows: They see an automated photo slide show in a small window. On the Mac or with other Windows browsers, the slide show must be manually launched."

When the bloggers blogs, can the Employer intervene?

New York Times
April 18, 2005, C1

Niall Kennedy, an employer at Technorati posted an satire on his blog and was asked by the company to remove it. Sun Microsystems thinks employees' blogs is a good PR campaign for the company. Mark Jen was fired by Google for posting an ill-advised comments about the company on his blog. Plaxo hired Jen to darft a blogging policy. Check blog.plaxoed.com


Is blogging a part of free speech or a part of corporate voice? Anyway, there is no law to protect blogger from being fired. So, how to blog safely? simple. Blog anonymously.

Behold, the wizard of blogs

Los Angeles Times
Apr 10, 2005. E.1

Xeni Jardin, co-editor of www.boingboing.net, has such mystrious past that she would not reveal her real name, because dangerous people may be after her.

A self-made star born of 21st century, she's a journalist, a blogger, a geek talk translator, a TV personality, an artist, a tour guide and an online funiture seller.

"All the roles are being blurred...Xeni represents the blurring"

United by a love for literature

Los Angeles Times

April 9 2005, E1

About 20 independent literary bloggers start a blog www.lbc.typepad.com to promote books they feel deserve more attention. The project has stirred interet among publishers eager to find new ways to connect literary writers with readers.