Author Archive for Andy Merrett

Andy Merrett has worked in a variety of commercial and not-for-profit organisations in both administrative and technical roles, including web and database development, systems analysis and programming. He is now a full-time professional blogger, writing on a variety of subjects including consumer technology, the Internet, music, and society. He currently works on a number of Shiny Media titles including Tech Digest, HDTVUK, and iPhonic, and other projects including Piano & Synth and Family Relationships. He is a prolific Facebook user. Andy lives in London, England.

Belkin to launch GoStudio podcasting solution for iPod users

May 12, 2008 | Filed Under Mac, News, Podcasting | Leave a Comment

Belkin seems to love both iPods and podcasters, so it’s no surprise that one of their latest products is aimed at budding iPod-owning podcasters.
I took a look at a prototype of the Belkin GoStudio in London a week ago. The product is so new that a production model wasn’t even available, which is a shame […]

BBC launches Blog Network portal, centralizes blogging activity

April 18, 2008 | Filed Under Movable Type, News | Leave a Comment

The BBC has launched its blog network, effectively centralizing and promoting its fifty-or-so home-grown blogs.
The BBC embraced blogging, at least in its simplest form, several years ago but seems keen to push them into the limelight. A number of the BBC’s journalists, DJs, presenters, and other staff maintain blogs, usually to support live events and […]

Six Apart launches Blog It, a cross-platform blogging application for Facebook

April 16, 2008 | Filed Under Facebook, News | 1 Comment

Today sees the launch of a new Facebook application designed to make it easier for bloggers to update their blogs and microblogs from within their Facebook account.
Six Apart has created Blog It, powered by TypePad, which allows a user to update their blogs and status reports across a number of popular blogging platforms, as well […]

Does live blogging create better journalists?

April 9, 2008 | Filed Under Blogging, Journalism | Leave a Comment

Many of us are familiar with the live blogging of an event, and indeed may have done it from time to time.
An interesting article at Poynter Online claims that live blogging can improve journalists’ skills.
Ben Walker, an Associated Press journalist, spoke of how he wanted to share the interesting “micro details” at the end of […]

Japanese cat’s blog gets 50,000 hits a day

April 8, 2008 | Filed Under Animals, Blogging, News | 1 Comment

Forget thinking that you’re in the wrong job — I think I’m the wrong creature.
According to reports, stray turned celebrity cat Hatch-chan has his own Japanese blog which has built up a following of some 50,000 every day.
Granted, human intervention by his photographer owners was required to catapult him to stardom, but that’s a pretty […]

Perez Hilton scooped by ITV to write promo column for “Gossip Girl”

April 8, 2008 | Filed Under Bloggers, News | Leave a Comment

Perez Hilton (Mario Lavandeira) hasn’t made his life any less hectic, after accepting a weekly writing gig with British commercial broadcaster ITV.
Continuing in the tried and tested celebrity gossip niche, his weekly column will round up events in “Gossip Girl”, acquired by the broadcaster and shown on Thursday nights at 10pm. The first column will […]

No reason for bloggers to be less healthy than other professionals

April 7, 2008 | Filed Under Bloggers | 1 Comment

Over the weekend, the New York Times ran an article suggesting that “In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop” off the back of the recent tragic deaths of two high-profile bloggers.
Yet heart-related conditions — some fatal — can afflict anyone in any profession, and there’s really no reason why bloggers should […]

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Do You Tag Yourself?
May 16, 2008 | By Lorelle VanFossen | 2 Comments

Do you tag yourself? Honestly? No, this is not a game.
With everyone back on the tag versus categories versus tags bandwagon, have you checked to make sure you are tagging yourself?
Inside of Lorelle on WordPress is the tag attribute that turns “Lorelle on WordPress” into a tag.
<a href="http://lorelle.wordpress.com/" title="Lorelle on WordPress" rel="tag">Lorelle on WordPress</a>
When […]

A BIG Reason to Read a Pet’s Blog
May 16, 2008 | By Andrew G.R. | Leave a Comment

I’ve often taken a snarky approach when it comes to people who set up blogs for their pets. I barely want to read about humans’ mundane lives, let alone issues with litter and pooper scoopers. However, there might be a new reason to subscribe to Lucky, Fido or Buddy’s blog.
Animals’ ability to prognosticate […]

Yahoo Nabs Safari Plugin Inquisitor
May 16, 2008 | By Thord Daniel Hedengren | Leave a Comment

Inquisitor is a cool plugin for Safari, and now Yahoo owns it. The developer, David Watanabe, won’t be joining Yahoo, but will continue the development.
I look forward to assisting Yahoo! in refining and extending the Inquisitor user experience beyond where it is today. I truly believe that Inquisitor and its users can only benefit, both […]

YouTube Gives You Insight
May 16, 2008 | By Thord Daniel Hedengren | 1 Comment

Now you can get some more statistics for your YouTube videos, with the recently launched Insight tool, available in your YouTube account (under Manage my Videos, which is probably temporary). The new stats feature is described like this by Tracy Chan, YouTube product manager:
For example, uploaders can see how often their videos are viewed in […]

Google the New Number 1 in the US
May 16, 2008 | By Thord Daniel Hedengren | Leave a Comment

I thought they were already, but obviously not so. Google has been the leading search engine, but overall Yahoo is the most popular web site according to ComScore’s rankings. No more though, according to an AP report:
According to comScore, Google’s unique U.S. audience in April was 141.1 million, an 18 percent increase from the same […]

Blogging from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
May 16, 2008 | By Thord Daniel Hedengren | Leave a Comment

Stephanie Stockman is a NASA contractor working at the Goddard Space Flight Center, which is cool by itself. What’s even cooler is that she’s blogging it, talking about rocketships in voice and text, as well as posting photos, something every space nerd should follow for sure. Her blog is Geosteph, which incidentally is her Twitter […]