Antarctica: Another natural wonder is about to be blogged.

Following on from the lucky Brit who gets to blog about the Great Barrier Reef comes a new dream blogging job.

Quark Expeditions will be sending one couple on a $20,000 cruise to Antarctica in February next year, where they’ll blog about the experience for all to read. read more

The New Yorker’s Malcolm Gladwell reviewed Chris Anderson’s most recent book, Free!, and it is an interesting read (with commentary across the web). Just like Anderson’s response on his own blog.

Welcome to the era of blogs, where reviews can be applauded, questioned, and picked apart not only by the masses (aka the readers), but also by the publishers and producers.

It used to be a straight forward thing, reviewing a product. Not anymore, because when anyone can publish a commentary on their own ground (aka the blog), it also means that reviewers suddenly find themselves being constantly reviewed. read more

Notable blogger Steve Rubel is quitting blogging, and is all about the lifestreaming now. He’s apparently blown away by Posterous, but looking at his new site it is all very much a blog to me. Then again the platform he has chosen is a lot less tightened than his old blog (being Micro Persuasion, still online), so I while I think he’s just playing with words here, this probably sums it up better than anything else:

A blog is more structured. It’s posts. This is freestyle.

Related: Louis Gray’s post on blogging still being the foundation to build upon.

The discussion around the Chris Anderson goof episode raises an interesting issue.

Is WordPress.com bad for the WordPress brand? read more

Where 15 years ago, having a Web site was something of a badge of nerdiness, today having a site doesn’t require much technical knowledge at all. Someone with almost no technical expertise can set up an account on WordPress.com or Blogger and be blogging within minutes.

However, this doesn’t mean that a blogger can get away with being a technical dunce. Though getting words on the Internet is pretty simple, building and growing a blog does require one to know a bit more than how to flip on a PC. Social networking sites make it easy to get online, but blogging, especially over the long haul, takes something more.

So what are those things that every blogger should know? There are many, definitely more than what is on this list, but here are five things every would-be blogger should know before, or at least shortly after, getting started. read more

Bella DePaulo, a blogger for both Psychology Today and the Huffington Post has a nice blog entry today devoted to the eight things she loves about blogging, and the three things she does not.

I’m a huge fan too, Bella! In fact, when I have periods of time where posting is not an option, I find myself suffering from Blogging Withdrawal.

We’ve spoken about this before, but since it’s a light and fluffy Friday, why not take the time to share your favorite thing about blogging AND your least favorite thing below.

It’s a fun exercise that could help rekindle your blogging passion, give you greater insight into your blogging actions, or simply, a way to vent about what blogging aspect drives you crazy.

My favorite from Bella about what she does NOT like about blogging:

Blogging doesn’t pay the bills.
If it did, I could make a career out of it.

AMEN!

The identity of a blogging British police officer going by the pseudonym “Night Jack” has been discovered by The Times newspaper and is soon to be published, after attempts by his lawyers to get an injunction preventing the exposé failed.

In the High Court, Mr Justice Eady ruled that blogging was “essentially a public rather than a private activity” and as such it was in the public interest to reveal his identity.

Unlike The Daily Telegraph, whose revelations regarding MPs expenses were definitely in the public interest, all The Times is likely to achieve is the loss of an interesting and insightful blog. Well done. read more

The results of last month’s Blogging for a Cause are in (in fact, they were in last week but I was on vacation so missed the announcement).

Though it was a fairly small online campaign by some standards, it generated over 400 blog posts in support of around 60 charities and not-for-profit organizations. read more

The New Yorker staff writer Malcolm Gladwell shares some tidbits about his upcoming essay for the magazine, which is all about the craft of news reporting. He should know, I guess, but it is always fun to pull stuff out of context. Like the Gawker piece nabbed from E&P Pub, which features this lovely little quote:

You can’t start blogging at 23 and call yourself a journalist.

Agreed! You’re a blogger, which you can call yourself right away then. Anyone can do it (which isn’t to say that anyone can do it well, but that’s often forgotten). read more

Recently I’ve added a new tool to my blogging arsenal. I’m relying on Google Voice. There are two primary ways I am using it to help me in my blogging endeavors. read more