OSS WLW and quitter bloggers

As blogging is dying, those of us who still cling to this habit are occasionally baited by news we'd like to think will come true, only to be proven otherwise. One such news items suggests that Microsoft might release the source code of Windows Live Writer or WLW.

Beauty and the B..logger

A recent story about a Dakota Fanning selling perfume with sexually explicit ads, while Oscar nominated Gary Busey is selling cars got me thinking about brain damage and blogging.

WLW or Windows Live Writer 2012 Portable–redivivus

With so many reports decrying the death of blogging, I thought I share with you what is most likely the last article ever on Window Live Writer or WLW - more precisely, how I am moving it and backing it up and how I am planning to move away from it.

End of year blogging tips

I found two interesting articles full of good tips on blogging in general as well as generating discussions. A summary of each can be found below.

HufPo on The Monetization of Mom Bloggers

If you ever wondered how "mom bloggers" are doing, HuffPo published an article full of interviews with them.

Disqus support fatigue

#Disqus has become the de facto standard in commenting, being used not just by small blogs, but even major newspapers and other high-traffic sites. I was one of the early adopters of Disqus, after having tried the Blogger 'left-behind' system, then the Intense Debate which ended up acquired by Wordpress parent. Compared to alternatives, Disqus is still the best, but there have been and still are problems, and that is what this article is about.

Blogging as Murder

Normally, the question of whether being a famous blogger could land someone in hot water in a murder investigation does not enter the vernacular. Yet this seems to be happening to John McAfee, if we are to believe him..

Who was Andrew Sullivan in Blogging?

I recently read about some blogger - Andrew Sullivan - announcing his retirement from blogging. I don't care much about celebrities, so I did not think much of it. And yet, this announcement has dominated a sizable chunk of news media, warranting a deeper look into it.

domains as prizes

After changing the domain names for my blog recently I found myself wondering why do I bother with oh-so-many domains I keep paying without using?

Grandma Goes Gaga

A grandmother starts a blogging community, enriching her life and others'.

Trackbacks and Pingbacks for Blogger

One important blogging feature not fully implemented on most platforms (with the probable exception of Wordpress) is trackbacks. Trackbacks and pingbacks are important because they tell the world that you are referring to another article. We look at ways to mitigate this omission.

The Big Freak Bloggers

Newsweek is having a look at the "the most notorious (and often successful)" bloggers. We could not resist the temptation to read this article..

Is buying followers or likes a good idea?

I've recently heard about a "big blogger" - if not in blogging, definitely in volume - who may have artificially inflated his twitter count with fake followers. Intrigued, I decided to take a look at the business of buying fake followers.

DMCA takedown–Vali Petcu aka Zoso

Once again, I find myself at the receiving end of a bogus DMCA claim (I cannot even ascertain what it is about). This time however, I intend to fight it and document every step of the way, in the hope that others might find it useful.

Moar Refreshments (mai multe piscoturi)!

The Romanian word “piscoturi”, loosely translated as “refreshments,” has become associated with the meagre price deontology or blogger ethics commands on the online advertising market (i.e., “piscotareala”) in that many are willing to sell not only their blog, but their soul and their mother’s soul for a few cookies and a coffee. Being a writer is a job everybody would love to have, except the writers themselves. Few other jobs (except maybe acting or singing) have as many people trying and so few succeeding. Being a blogger is somewhat less glamorous than being a writer, at least not in the traditional sense of the (former) word, as it combines traits of several other fields, such as IT, publishing, PR, but it still has a strong creative component. In this article, we take a look at the Romanian refreshment (piscot) market.

Windows Live Writer Portable upgrade

I was prompted today to upgrade my portable install of Windows Live Writer. In case you have not heard about it, WLW is one of the few Windows applications that have no equivalent in the Linux world, causing many to keep Windows virtual machine or windows partition just so they can use it. This being the best blogging editor there is, I thought it's a good idea to share this experience (and much more) with you.

zoso.ro certificate expired

We have recently learned that the self-appointed “father” of Romanian blogosphere or blogo.ro-oaie had allowed the HTTPS (security) certificate for his main website, the zoso.ro blog, to expire. Visitors to his blog were greeted with the certificate error below.

Google Plus vs Disqus comments on Blogger

I have recently learned via an email from Blogger that it is now possible to integrated Google Plus comments with a blog such as this one. Unfortunately, as of yet there is no reaction from Disqus and there does not seem to be possible to have both.

Hacking labels and categories into feeds

In a previous installment we looked at how to help readers find only the articles written by one particular author in a Blogger multi-author blog. Here we look at more hacks employing labels and feeds.

Looking at Vlogging

Spurred by the ROTLD announcement I started considering monetizing my blogs. That means, for most of them, a new look and more frequent posting. I started by looking at a few Romanian blogs and even considered vlogging or video blogging.