Just over a year ago, I was sent a thought provoking YouTube link "The Machine is Us/ing Us". Not only was it educational in describing how the web is used, how we use it to use us, but also an eye opener in terms of how we need to redefine our thoughts and values. It was one of those moments that made me as a blogger stand back and think "Wow, there are a couple of things I can change". Today I received another link (from the same group), the video is below ("A Vision of Students Today"). The specific topic deals with the characteristics of students today. While this may not be directly related to blogging, some of the comments and suggestions within this video are not only moving but also provocative in that (I think) bloggers, such as myself, need to stand back from time to time and put ourselves in someone else's shoes (such as our readers). Doing so perhaps can empower us to provide content that is more meaningful and useful (among other things). A case in point from the video, "18% of my teachers know my name". About the only intelligent response to the video that immediately ...

For years, I've always believed that keeping your data safe is critical. Without a safety net, there's no fast method to recreate years of blog or web site content additions and updates. I'm sure you'd agree with me right? Right! I've rarely had any issues until recently. Do you want to avoid some of these costly issues for your blog? As some of you are aware, I recently experienced two disasters that effected my blog and how I worked. The first disaster resulted in the initial loss of my blog (and several hours of work it took to write the initial content). The second resulted in the near-loss of data on my computer and a loss of my Internet connection. Both issues lost me time and cost me money. Issue #1 - Software Related The web server was configured to automatically create file and database backups every 24 hours. I even received the daily email messages, indicating the backups were created; and faithfully downloaded the new backups each day. Shortly after a I launched this blog, a scripting issue on the server caused all databases to be dropped (deleted). Normally it would be a simple fix to use the existing backups to restore ...

As some of you may know, my primary blogging applications are on Linux based PC's, however a large portion of my clients and visitors are Windows based and several have asked me what I think would be the best software for Windows based bloggers - To improve productivity, safeguard information, enhance research and communication. I prefer to take a frugal approach to answering such questions, after all, why incur extra costs when you don't have to? Side note: Many of these applications are also available to my Linux friends (and Mac) too. For all those who asked, and those interested to know, I'm sure something on the list below will be useful: 1) eMail Communication. Thunderbird is an email client that features intelligent (learning) spam filters, spell checker and customizable layout. It provides IMAP/POP support, HTML email composing, email search, address book, advanced message filtering, address completion, import tools, and multiple email and (RSS) newsgroup accounts. You can add extensions for extra features including: Quicktext email template creation and for super fast addition of predefined text snippets to an email message. Display Mail User Agent so that you can better see what application is sending you email. This helps in avoiding spoofed email. For example, Google ...

One question I often field is how to encourage more visitors to comment on your blog. In particular it seems, many of the people I've spoken to seem demotivated because "...nobody ever sends feed back... there's no response..." Does this sound like you? If so, the following six tips are just for you. 1) Ask for Comments. I can't make the statement any simpler. I'll say it again, if you want something, ask for it. In my opinion, the best place to ask is right at the end of you post. If your visitor has read this far (if the content is good quality, they will), you're more likely to garner a response. Most importantly, indicate that you respect their opinions, make sure you respond. This is commonly referred to as a "Call to Action". Once you're blog post is finished, empower your readers to add to or improve the content. Empower them to ask questions. Also, enable them to easily follow up by using the Subscribe To Comments Wordpress plugin. This plugin allows readers to receive notifications of new comments that are posted to an entry. 2) Remove the Barriers. Nothing is more annoying then spending extra time writing a quality comment, and ...

I just received an email (about a new blog post earlier today). The questions was "...you mentioned [blog] update services and pingomatic, what is that...?" For those of us who use Wordpress, it's a feature you can configure in the writing settings of your blogs administrative area. Simply log in and go to "Settings" - "Writing" and look near the bottom. You will see the following: "When you publish a new post, WordPress automatically notifies the following site update services. For more about this, see Update Services on the Codex. Separate multiple service URLs with line breaks." Many readers subscribe to such services and will see that you have new content posted. By default, Wordpress only notifies rpc.pingomatic.com. The list below contains another 145. Make sure you back up your wordpress files and database BEFORE adding this to the "Update Services" of your blog. http://rpc.pingomatic.com/ http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2 http://api.feedster.com/ping http://api.moreover.com/ping http://api.moreover.com/RPC2 http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC http://blogdb.jp/xmlrpc/ http://coreblog.org/ping/ http://ping.blo.gs/ http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/ http://ping.cocolog-nifty.com/xmlrpc http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/ http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/ http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2 http://topicexchange.com/RPC2 http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2 http://xping.pubsub.com/ping http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping http://rpc.pingomatic.com/ http://1470.net/api/ping http://www.a2b.cc/setloc/bp.a2b http://api.feedster.com/ping http://api.moreover.com/RPC2 http://api.moreover.com/ping http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2 http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping http://www.bitacoles.net/ping.php http://bitacoras.net/ping http://blogdb.jp/xmlrpc http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2 http://blogmatcher.com/u.php http://www.blogoole.com/ping/ http://www.blogoon.net/ping/ http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates http://www.blogroots.com/tb_populi.blog?id=1 http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php http://www.blogsnow.com/ping http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc http://coreblog.org/ping/ http://www.lasermemory.com/lsrpc/ http://mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatt http://www.mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatter/ping.php http://www.newsisfree.com/xmlrpctest.php http://ping.amagle.com/ http://ping.bitacoras.com http://ping.blo.gs/ http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/ http://ping.blogmura.jp/rpc/ http://ping.cocolog-nifty.com/xmlrpc http://ping.exblog.jp/xmlrpc http://ping.feedburner.com http://ping.myblog.jp http://ping.rootblog.com/rpc.php http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php http://ping.weblogs.se/ http://pingoat.com/goat/RPC2 http://www.popdex.com/addsite.php http://rcs.datashed.net/RPC2/ http://rpc.blogbuzzmachine.com/RPC2 http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/ http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/ http://rpc.pingomatic.com/ http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2 http://www.snipsnap.org/RPC2 http://trackback.bakeinu.jp/bakeping.php http://topicexchange.com/RPC2 http://www.weblogues.com/RPC/ http://xping.pubsub.com/ping/ http://xmlrpc.blogg.de/ http://rpc.pingomatic.com/ http://www.a2b.cc/setloc/bp.a2b http://api.feedster.com/ping http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2 http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2 http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php http://www.blogsnow.com/ping http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi http://coreblog.org/ping/ http://ping.blo.gs/ http://ping.feedburner.com http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php http://www.popdex.com/addsite.php http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/ http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2 http://topicexchange.com/RPC2 http://xping.pubsub.com/ping/ http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping http://api.moreover.com/ping http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/ http://api.feedster.com/ping http://api.moreover.com/RPC2 http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2 http://xping.pubsub.com/ping/ http://ping.blo.gs/ http://ping.feedburner.com http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/ http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/ http://rpc.newsgator.com/ http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2 http://topicexchange.com/RPC2 http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2 http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi http://www.newsisfree.com/RPCCloud http://ping.weblogs.se/ http://blogmatcher.com/u.php http://coreblog.org/ping/ http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc http://trackback.bakeinu.jp/bakeping.php http://ping.myblog.jp http://ping.bitacoras.com http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/ http://ping.blogmura.jp/rpc/ http://xmlrpc.blogg.de http://1470.net/api/ping http://bblog.com/ping.php http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC http://rpc.pingomatic.com http://ping.weblogs.se/ http://blogmatcher.com/u.php http://coreblog.org/ping/ http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc http://trackback.bakeinu.jp/bakeping.php http://ping.myblog.jp http://ping.bitacoras.com http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/ http://ping.blogmura.jp/rpc/ http://xmlrpc.blogg.de http://1470.net/api/ping http://bblog.com/ping.php http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC http://www.wasalive.com/ping/ Please let me know if there are any others! - Cheers.