One of the things I love about this “job” is the amount of variety, both in the things I do, the opportunities that come along, and the interesting people I get to hang out with. Strange thing is, I am not sure if the blogging part of my life is starting to shrink. read more

Deutsche Welle’s The BOBs is over, and according to them, the best weblog is Generación Y, a Cuban blog in Spanish authored by Yoani Sanchez. Russian Radio Grinch received the price for best podcast, and 4equality (in Persian) got the Reporters Without Borders price.

Placed under house arrest, Zeng Jinyan describes her life under constant surveillance by the Chinese authorities. The Persian Weblog 4equality is working to gather 1 million signatures on a petition for women’s rights in Iran. The Sunlight Foundation’s Party Blog, which exposes what groups and companies sponsor fundraising events for US politicians, won the Best Weblog English award.

Check out all the winners over at The BOBs site.

WordPress 2.7 is at beta version 3 and will be released by the end of the month, so rumors fly. Expect an announcement at WordCamp Australia by Matt Mullenweg this weekend. WordPress 2.6.5 is a security release – update now. WordPressMU also updated. BuddyPress about to release December 15. WordCamps are heating up for January and the first few months – filling up fast so get your registration in now for one near you. Some WordPress 2.7 release parties are forming. And more WordPress news.

WordPress News

WordPress 2.6.5 Released: A security release of WordPress has come out and you are highly recommended to upgrade now, rather than wait for the release of WordPress 2.7. The release version is 2.6.5, not to be confused with the malicious version, WordPress 2.6.4. WordPress 2.6.5 tackles an XSS exploit that impacts only IP-based virtual servers running Apache 2.x and three other fixes. You can upgrade the whole thing, or just the five files which have been changed.

WordPressMU Updated: Donncha reports that WordPressMU 2.6.5 has been released to include the XSS vulnerability fix.

BuddyPress Scheduled for December 15: According to a note in the BuddyPress Forums, the social networking WordPress Theme especially for WordPressMU versions has a feature freeze in preparation for release on December 15, 2008, a much anticipated release.

WordPress 2.7 Development News: While some in the United States took a couple days of rest and family time for the Thanksgiving holiday, work continued on WordPress 2.7 due out the end of November, though it might be a week into December. WordPress 2.7 Beta 3 is the latest testing version released. A newly redesigned login page has been developed with screenshots available around the web.

Other articles and news about WordPress 2.7 include: read more

Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft are giving away $300,000 worth of computers, laptops, netbooks, PDAs, printers, software and accessories through a blog-oriented promotion called the HP Magic Giveaway. HP is not directly raffling off the prizes, though, but has left this task to 50 bloggers, who will run different contests on their blogs to determine the winners.

The prize package includes:

• HP TouchSmart IQ816 PC with Windows
• HP HDX 18 series Premium Notebook PC with Windows
• HP MediaSmart Connect
• HP Pavilion dv4-1145go Entertainment Notebooks with Windows
• HP Mini 1000 series with Windows
• HP Photosmart C6380 Wireless AIO
• HP 564 Series Photo Value Pack
• Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007
• Corel VideoStudio X2
• Kung Fu Panda widescreen DVDs

You can visit the list of participating blogs, and readers are eligible to join all 50 contests for better chances of winning.

It’s dangerous to Twitter, that’s for sure! Not only is it almost as addictive as asides, but you’ll also have to make sure you don’t blurt something personal to the masses. Like Pownce hotshot Leah Culver did, something about a cheating boyfriend or whatever. That hit Valleywag like something did to the fan. Luckily, the tweet’s been deleted, but if it’s online one time, it’s there forever.

Mind you tweets, people.

Do you look at other blogs and enjoy the content, or do you envy their comments, traffic or subscriber numbers? read more

Are you a space buff? Then Ariel Waldman’s Spacehack might be for you. She describes it like this:

Spacehack is a directory of ways to participate in space exploration, interact + connect with the space community and encourage citizen science.

There’s a bunch of projects featured on Spacehack already, for the science geeks and space lovers out there.

The Guardian’s Jon Henley writes about Slow Blogging, which apparently was branded by Todd Sieling, some Canadian tech consultant that doesn’t have his own Wikipedia page, although I’m pretty sure he can exist anyway. Henley quotes this Sieling fellow like this: “a rejection of immediacy … an affirmation that not all things worth reading are written quickly” and “speaking like it matters, like the pixels that give your words form are precious and rare”, and more. Obviously there’s a manifesto as well, which I honestly haven’t bothered with finding.

Slow Blogging. Right. It appeals to Henley, who think it is something to applaud.

So let’s hear it for all those who take the time to think, study and reflect before they post; who do not feel the need to slap the first thing that comes out of their head straight onto the web. People who refuse to update five times a day, or even once a week. People who value quality over quantity.

Sure. Hear hear. read more

Yesterday, I wrote about how to win at the social media game and how it begins by establishing your online credentials. Basically, it’s how to create a virtual business card and resume that establish your web presence and history. From this information, people can get a glimmer of who you are, what you do, how you do it, and how they can use you to get the job done.

What Are Your Online Credentials?

I talked about the basics you probably already have in place, the social media tools of email, blog, and so on. Don’t have a blog? Get one.

In today’s world, you have to have a blog or social site like Facebook or MySpace. It must include a biography (bio or profile) about who you are, what you do, and how you can help others. Some history, like resume credentials, is appreciated as it sets your qualifications as an expert in your field.

There are a variety of other tidbits of personal information you may want to provide that may or may not be of help to others looking for you as an expert or to establish a personal or professional relationship with. read more

The BOBs is really “Best of Blogs” and is an award maintained by German newspaper Deutsche Welle, who incidentally has a international editon. There’s a jury that wields its power, but also a People’s Choice Award, and that’s where you come in. 176 finalist blogs all wants to bring in the award, and you can help picking the winner – and a chance to win a HTC Touch Dual mobile phone as well.

You can vote until Midnight CET, November 26, and the award ceremony will begin at 8 pm CET on November 27, streamed live at The BOBs website.