How does your label cloud look?

Well, if you have a blog then you must surely have been labelling your post.Most of you must have even put up the labels in your sidebar widget.
So how does your sidebar labels look like? Does it still look like the primitive one below?




Or perhaps you have upgraded to the more appealing and nice looking label cloud like this one:




However, there is a new sidebar widget for labels which is really cool.If you still don't have it for your blog, then you must go right ahead.To see how this widget looks like, you can visit my home blog.This widget uses a combination of JavaScript and Flash animation to parse and display your blog labels.

To install this widget, do the following:
Step 1:
Go to Layout>Edit HTML in your Blogger dashboard, and search for the following line (or similar):

<b:section class='sidebar' id='sidebar' preferred='yes'>
Immediatly after this line, paste the following section of code:

<b:widget id='Label99' locked='false' title='Labels' type='Label'>

<b:includable id='main'>

<b:if cond='data:title'>

<h2><data:title/></h2>

</b:if>

<div class='widget-content'>

<script src='http://halotemplates.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-cumulus-example/swfobject.js' type='text/javascript'/>

<div id='flashcontent'>Blogumulus by <a
href='http://www.roytanck.com/'>Roy Tanck</a> and <a
href='http://www.bloggerbuster.com'>Amanda
Fazani</a></div>

<script type='text/javascript'>

var so = new
SWFObject("http://halotemplates.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-cumulus-example/tagcloud.swf",
"tagcloud", "240",
"300", "7",
"#ffffff");

// uncomment next line to enable transparency

//so.addParam("wmode", "transparent");

so.addVariable("tcolor", "0x333333");

so.addVariable("mode", "tags");

so.addVariable("distr", "true");

so.addVariable("tspeed", "100");

so.addVariable("tagcloud",
"<tags><b:loop values='data:labels'
var='label'><a expr:href='data:label.url'
style='12'><data:label.name/></a></b:loop></tags>");

so.addParam("allowScriptAccess", "always");

so.write("flashcontent");

</script>


<b:include name='quickedit'/>

</div>

</b:includable>

</b:widget>

Then preview your template. If installed correctly, you should see the tag cloud appear in your sidebar.

If you want to change the size and colour of the label cloud , just play around with the highlighted numbers in the code and you will do fine.

P.S:Many thanks to
Roy Tanck' who designed this widget as a plugin for wordpress,and Amanda for converting it into a blogger widget.

What's the status?

I had announced a contest for the top commenter of the month nearly 10 days ago .The prizes were:
1.100 EC
2.a spot on my blogroll for 2 months.

Well let's see whats the status at this time?

Still five more days left for the contest, so lol for all.

Just Added Top Droppers

Well there are some cool google gadgets that you must try for your blog.
If you are an Entrecard Fan then you must get the top droppers or recent droppers widget in your blog. Just a sign of appreciation for all those who religiously drop on your blog and as default are your regular visitors.

I really liked the top droppers widget and if you want to try it too then Mike from michiganrafter has written a very good tutorial for this.
Though I feel an icing on the cake would have been if it displayed the no. of drops also.But for now , it's cool!


Which is the most viewed video on youtube?

YouTube has come to define the new era of online video, so let's take a look at their most popular videos of all time.

Well, I had thought that the most viewed video would be something to do with cokeandmenthol or George Bush perhaps, but no, the most popular video of all timeon YouTube, so far, has been Evolution of Danceby comedian Judson Laipply. It was added to YouTube on April 06, 2006

and has since gone on to attract 96.5 Million views.

It has 389,948 ratings.

It's had 216,032 comments, the first of which was: "That was freaking AWESOME! Thanks
for sharing!!".




According to a SMH article
at the end of 2006, Laipply is a comedian and motivational speaker from
Cleveland, Ohio. The video shows him dancing a six-minute routine
encompassing 32 songs spanning more than 50 years of music and dance.
In many ways this is your typical YouTube video - a funny, goofy, short
and clever video, in this case uploaded by and starring a
professional comedian. But there are tens of thousands of similar
videos on YouTube, uploaded by enthusiastic amateurs (mostly teens).


Incidentally, on Laipply's website there is an accompanying cat video - proving once and for all that this success story was by and for the Web.



UDB contest. Want to win 8GB ipod?

Unique Blog Design has done wonderfully well in the past year and now they are celebrating their anniversary with style.

To celebrate this 1 year birthday, UBD will be running a contest for the remainder of August. The contest is open to everyone on Earth! If you are not from Earth, you are responsible for the cost of shipping. So, what are the prizes?


UBD Prizes

Grand Prize - Brand New 8GB iPod Touch ($299 value) and One (1) Copy of Their New UBD Citrus WordPress Theme (coming next week).


Three (3) runner-up prizes include copies of their new UBD Citrus WordPress Theme.


How to Enter:



  • For one (1) contest entry - just reply to this post with a comment. Only one comment per person will be counted.
  • For five (5) contest entries - write a blog post about the UBD 1-Year Anniversary Contest and link back to this post. If your blog post does not appear under the “Pingbacks,” leave a comment with a URL to the post.
    • The contest runs from 12:00AM PST Friday, August 22nd, 2008 to 11:59PM Sunday, August 31, 2008.
    • Winners will be chosen Monday, September 1, 2008 through a random drawing.
    • Only one (1) comment entry per person and one (1) blog entry per
      person. The total number of entries any person can receive is six (6)
      entries.
    • Prizes include (1) grand prize of an Apple iPod Touch 8GB ($299
      value) and three (3) copies of our new UBD Citrus WordPress Theme ($99
      value) - coming next week.
    • Contest is open to everyone world-wide.

  • The winner will be randomly chosen Monday, September 1st, 2008.


    So hurry, and enter yourself.


For more detail about the contest please visit


Happy Birthday UBD! 1-Year Anniversary Contest


A beautiful little book.

Tuesdays with Morrie. A gem by Albom Mitch.





I read it yesterday and it was a like taking a deeeeep breath and smiling with oneself.
So often we are lost giving so much importance to things that we think we ought to do that we lose the sight of the real thing that gives us joy.
Morrie is a professor and he is one of the rare gems who can be actually called a teacher. He teaches with his life.
Later in life he contracts ALS, a deadly disease( the same as Stephen Hawking), and this book is a discussion between him and one of his student.



Take time out and read this. I'm sure you will feel more happy.

Some snippets.

So how does it look?

If you have visited my blog before then you might have noticed that it has gone a complete makeover. I found this excellent template and I won't be changing it for a long time now.
Feel free to comment on how is the new avatar, and you might win some EC for that.(Check the contest)

Vodafone releases iPhone 3G price! (India)

The much awaited iPhone 3G's price and models has been announced by vodafone. However, Airtel is yet to do the same.






Here is the complete excerpt from Vodafone.

"We are delighted to announce that the iPhone 3G will be available
in India from August 22, 2008. It will be available in 8GB & 16GB
models, priced at Rs 31,000 ($710) and Rs 36,100 ($820) respectively. "



Be the first to get the iPhone - We have received a
large number of registrations. As there are limited stocks, make sure
that you get yours first, by paying an advance of Rs 10,000 to confirm
your booking.


Where can you make this advance payment? - The
iPhone 3G will be available at select Vodafone Stores. All you need to
do is drop in at any select Vodafone Store between August 20 and 21 and
make the advance payment by cash or credit card.


Don’t forget to show the iPhone booking SMS, which you would have
received from us, when you visit the Vodafone Store to pay the advance.
To find a Vodafone Store near you, click here.


Get an appointment now. No queues for you. - Once
you pay the advance, we will immediately give you an appointment date
and time, starting August 22 when you can come and experience a full
demonstration and collect your iPhone, all ready to use with your
contacts and settings, by paying the balance amount.


Hurry! Limited stocks. - Remember, the sooner you
confirm your booking, the earlier you´ll get your iPhone. We have
limited stocks and it will be on first come, first serve basis.


Buy a Vodafone connection now! - As you are not a Vodafone customer, you will need a Vodafone connection for your iPhone 3G.


We recommend that when you come to confirm your booking, please do
get yourself a Vodafone connection too. Remember to carry a passport
sized picture, photo ID proof and address proof as these are required
for activating your Vodafone SIM card.


Happy to help - If you have any queries, log on to vodafone.in/iphone or call us on 9719097190 and we´ll be happy to help.



How to Add Star Ratings to your blog(Customised Template for Blogger)

Let's face it now!
For every one comment which u get for your posts, there will be 50 others who will just read the post and hop on to another blog/site.
The main reason for this is 'why should I take all the trouble to wait for another window to open up and enter the comment"
So to facilitate easy reader involvement, consider the star ratings widget to rate your posts.



You can get an excellent post on this topic by Amanda from Blogger Buster.

However, it didn't help much with my customized template and I've seen some other people also comment that it didn't work out.

If you have a customized template, try this:

Step1:
This tutorial is for the star ratings widget provided by blogger in draft.So first you need to login through blogger in draft.
a> Log out from your google account.
b> go to Blogger in draft and login
c> go to layout>page elements. click on edit in the BLOG POSTS.
d> Check the star ratings .


Step2:

Go to layout>edit HTML

copy the whole existing HtML code to your system(just in case something goes wrong).

Check the expand widget templates box.
Step3: Search for the following line of code.

<p><data:post.body/></p>



Step4:
Copy the following code just after the above code.

<span class='star-ratings'>

<b:if cond='data:top.showStars'>

<div expr:g:background-color='data:backgroundColor'
expr:g:text-color='data:textColor' expr:g:url='data:post.absoluteUrl'
g:height='42' g:type='RatingPanel' g:width='180'/>

</b:if>

</span>


step5:Again search for the following code(the last instance)

<b:include name='feedLinks'/>

Step6: copy the following code right after the above code.

<b:if cond='data:top.showStars'>

<script src='http://www.google.com/jsapi' type='text/javascript'/>

<script type='text/javascript'>

google.load("annotations", "1");

function initialize() {

google.annotations.setApplicationId(<data:top.blogspotReviews/>);

google.annotations.createAll();

google.annotations.fetch();

}

google.setOnLoadCallback(initialize);

</script>

</b:if>

Step7: Preview your changes. If satisfied, save it .

You're done.!



Take a break!

Just a break from all the tech and blog and net. Humor for a change. Just enjoy these!

Btw I will be launching my humor blog soon.So watch out for that!


Soccer mania



Funny huh!





Mr dog-l-ass




So much for Victoria's secret




Toilet truck


Blogging contests! Want to win???

Recently I have been attracted to a few contests hosted by some blogs.
Most of them give away small bucks or a few hundred Entrecard Credits.
However look at the bright side, u get that just for commenting or linking or subscribing. Now that's not a great deal to crib about.




Actually I am enjoying doing this since I won 1 contest yesterday for just leaving one comment.
I just woke up in the morning and read a message from mike of monkeyfables fame saying " I have send you 50 ec for winning the contest".
This immediately brightened my day.
So I will be posting about some of the interesting contests in the blogosphere. Just take a chance!

Here's one from dablogger.com

http://dablogger.com/win-5000-paypal-advertising-spots-and-entrecard-credits/

another one

http://jeflin.net/2008/08/02/win-25-cash-money/

And another one

http://www.anothermmoblog.com/


And yet another one

http://www.crunchnow.com/2008/07/crunchnow-dot-com.html

Cool way to let people contact you!

Well you might have noticed that I changed the template of this blog.
One thing that was eating me was that when someone clicks on the "Contact Me" link then which page should open.
i.e. I was searching for a friendly and easy form through which a user could send me an e-mail directly 'coz it would be too troublesome for a user to copy your email and then log on to his/her account and then send you an email.


That's when I stumbled upon this gem of a thing called Kontactr.
You can create an account and give your email. U will receive the url for your contact form which u can use in your blog HTML code.
And above all this service is FREE!!
If you want to check the form just click on the "Contact Me" tab at the top of this blog.


Next time someone wants to contact you they will just want to Kontactr.

Plz comment if you found this post useful. Or at least rate it. These are the foods for a blogger's soul.(I hope most bloggers agree)

Most easiest blog contest! win 100 EC


This is the first ever contest which I am hosting in this blog, so I thought of making as simple as possible.

PRIZE: 100 EC(entrecard credits) transferred to your account.

RULES:

¤To enter this competition all you have to do is leave a comment on any post(s) in this blog.
¤The person who has posted the maximum number of comments wins.
¤In case of a tie, the winner will be chosen by a randomiser.
¤The contest ends on 12:00 IST on 16th August, 2008.

UPDATE: Since the blog is so young, I thought of extending the end-contest date to the end of this month.And to compensate for that I have added one more prize. Results will be declared on 31st august, 2008.

PRIZE2: Free backling to your blog/site in my blogroll for one full month.

¤The winner will be announced on the same date and they have to claim the prize whithin 48 hrs of declaration.

NOTE: When you leave a comment please leave your name and the url of your blog or website.

BEST OF COMMENTING!!

Blogging for Beginners 2 : Get a customized template!

When I first started my blog, i had made it in minima template. However I used to wonder how can I make my blog look customized and beautiful like most of the other blogs.
Although, i had changed the header and made some changes but still I was not satisfied.Then I came across ready made templates for free.

These are customized templates which u can download for free . I will give some links which provide these templates.There are many other sites which provide customized templates for free or for some charge.

bloggerbuster

bloggertemplates


All you need to do is click on download the template. Save the xml file in your desktop(or any convenient location which is easy to find).

Now once once u have saved the xml template file, go to your bloger account>layout>edit HTML.

There u will find, upload a template from your hard drive.
upload the xml file u have saved and click preview.If u are satisfied with your settings, click save.



A few words of caution:

1. before uploading anything you might want to save the current template .in case any catastrophe happens , you might want the old things back.

2.
I have found that with the free blogger templates, sometimes it is difficult to add some widgets and extra code.

The Apple iPhone 3G is here!!

Finally the release of the much awaited iPhone 3G is declared.
Apple iPhone launched on July 11 worldwide, is finally selling in India from August 22, 2008. Apple has announced Airtel and Vodafone as the authorised sellers for Apple iPhone in India. Now Indians can also be proud iPhone 3G owners a few weeks later.



Bharti Airtel has announced
that it will launch the iPhone 3G in India on August 22. Customers will
be able to purchase iPhone 3G at Airtel Relationship Centers. However,
the pricing details have not yet been officially announced (see US pricing plans). Airtel customers can book an iPhone now.


Vodafone has started pre-registration much earlier than Airtel, but there is no official announcement for iPhone sales on their site. Pre-register iPhone here on Vodafone.


The Apple India store has geared up for Apple iPhone sales and has started pointing potential customers to Airtel and Vodafone websites.


How to speed up your TORRENT download?

If you download files( documents, music, videos etc.) by torrents then here I discuss two ways of increasing your down load speed upto 2x faster.

TIP 1: I will take example utorrent but you can do this with any torrent downloader.
Open utorrent application and click on Options.
Click preferences. Go to advanced ( at the last).
Among the many things u see there, look for net.max_halfopen.
Its default value will be 8. Set it to 50.
You're done . This should definitely increase your download speed.



TIP 2 :

The blue or green network cable coming out of your
computer/modem/router is actually a busy highway comprised of 65,536
tiny electronic lanes
(yes, over sixty-five thousand little lanes
for your electrons). Each lane is called a "port", and each port is
designed to allow only specific types of information through. Many
ports are assigned in a semi-standardized way. Here are some example
port assignments:

  • HTML pages: port 80
  • FTP file transferring: port 21
  • World of Warcraft: port 3724
  • POP3 email: port 110
  • MSN Messenger: port 6901 and ports 6891-6900
  • Everquest: port 1024
  • Bit Torrents: port 6881




2) Bit torrents, by default, first look for port 6881 to enter/exit your computer.
If port 6881 is closed for whatever reason, torrents then go to port
6882, then 6883, and so on, until it eventually tries port 6999 before
giving up.



3) Every ISP, and every home router, can optionally block any of these ports with the intention of preventing hackers and controlling the network.



4) If you tell your own personal router and firewall at home to open (aka "forward") port 6881 and port 6882, then your bit torrents will find their way into your computer that much faster. Sometimes up to 5x faster.


5 compelling reasons to use Mozilla Firefox


If you are still using Internet Explorer then consider Switching to Mozilla Firefox 3. I bet you won't regret.
Thought there are tons of reasons to switch to Firefox, these five compels me the most.

REASON 1 : Proven security track record, with more frequent, transparent updates, so that you use a safer browser.

Firefox has an immaculate track record.So it is one of the most trusted brands.

REASON 2 : Tabbed browsing

With Firefox you can open several sites in the same window. It's much easier in here than in Internet Explorer.



REASON 3 : Great Looks and Great Add-ons

The first time I used it, I was simply impressed with the looks of the browsing window.
Firefox also has some great add-ons which provide much needed tools with some applications. A list of great add-ons in the next post.



REASON 4 : Better Bookmarks and History


Firefox makes it easier to organize your Bookmark collection with its handy Bookmarks manager (Bookmarks, Manage Bookmarks...
menu item). Create folders to group similar items, and add annotations
to remind yourself of why you bookmarked a particular item later. Sort
on any of a number of properties including Name, Location, Date Last
Visited, etc. Firefox also lets you associate a Keyword with any
bookmark so you can open it by simply typing its keyword in the
Location Bar of the browser.


Both Bookmarks and History are available as convenient Side Bar panels for quick access. Simply hit Ctrl+B for Bookmarks,
and Ctrl+H for History. Links open with a click.

REASON 5 : Awesome bar

You can find places you've been before with a couple of keystrokes.





Other reasons include:

  • - "Save on exit" so that when you launch Firefox, you're immediately ready to surf, with last windows and tabs open
  • - Remember passwords without a dialog box, so that you decide to save the password after you've logged-in
  • - New download manager, users can pause a download and resume it
    later, with a search box to easily retrieve previous downloads
  • - Fastest on complex Web applications, such as GMail so you are more comfortable, even on old machines
  • - Uses less memory than any other browser, so you'll get more mileage out of your computer
  • - Moving the Web forward by supporting advanced Web standards so
    that the Web keeps evolving and benefits users in the long term.


Blogging for beginners 1: How to start a blog? (Tips)

Assuming that you don't know much about blogging and want to start a blog of your own, I will guide u stepwise as to how to get along in the blogosphere( yeah! that's what they call it). Also included are valuable tips that will help you advance your blogging skills to higher levels.

To start a blog all you need is a google account. There are many .com service providers for blogging. Prominent among them are Wordpress and
Blogger. Blogger is an excellent base to start a blog.
Go to Blogger and sign up for a blog. Select a suitable name for your blog.
Something that relates to the background of your blog.



Select any template you like at the start. Minima works best for beginners.
In 3 easy steps your blog is ready. Now the real work starts.

I will just include a few tips for now. More in the later posts.

TIP 1 Remove the navigation bar

You will notice that most of the websites and good looking blogs dont have the ugly blue navigation bar at the top. Well you can also remove it from your blog. Just follow Bawa's blogsutras.
NOTE: This will help you understand the basics of your blog settings,layout etc. However, let me tell u this that if you decide to implement a customized template for your blog, this tip will not mean much.

TIP 2 Change the header

You can edit the header of your blog to any image you want.Again follow Bawa's blogsutras.

TIP 3 Add RSS

One of the first things you would want to do is to let your readers subscribe to your posts.So add a RSS feedburner to your blog.Follow Abhay's tips on this HERE.

Add a comment for any problems.I would be most ready to help.



Add a favicon to your blog !!!






Ever wondered how come other blogs and sites have their own customized icons and you have the same, boring, common
logo beside ur url? Well u can also customize the icon (called favicon)
according to your preferences.
I'll make it as simple as possible.


Step 1: Choose an image which u want to set as favicon.You can convert any image of any size to a standard favicon of 16x16 pixels format. Just make sure that the image looks good in such a small size. To convert the image to a favicon with extension .ico visit HERE.

You can also create your own customized animation favicon or choose from among the many already existing at HERE.


Step 2: Once you have your favicon.ico file, you have to use some webhosting space to host the image. Now the problem is that normal image hosting sites like picasa, photobucket do not host .ico files.
Go to sites.google.com and create an account or login.(Google pages do not accept new signup)
Some options of creating a website will come, just accept it.

Click on edit page and insert the favicon.ico image which u have saved in your computer.

Once the image appears click on it to open it in a separate window.
copy the url of the picture.
eg. http://sites.google.com/site/vivekassdown/Home/favicon.ico

Btw, this is my favicon as you can see.

Step 3:

Open your blogger.com account and go to "edit HTML" in the layout page .

Search for this '<>' It is right at the top.
Now just below this paste the following code, as shown in the figure.




don't give a space between '<' and 'link' above.










Remember to check by clicking "PREVIEW".

Save the template and you're done.

How to remove the "MUHAHAHA!!!" virus?

If you find this message “I DNT HATE MOZILLA BUT USE IE OR ELSE…” when you launch Firefox or this” ORKUT IS BANNED, Orkut is banned you fool`, The administrators didn’t write this program guess who did?? ” when you try to launch Orkut Or "youtube IS BANNED,youtube is banned you fool`, The administrators didn’t write this program guess who did??`r`r MUHAHAHA!!,30", then you are system is infected with w32.USBworm (w32.USB worm). Don’t PANIC, this worm is a decent worm, which does not destroy your files or damage your computer.

The message is something like this for firefox:


The following steps help you to remove w32.USBworm completely from your system.

First you need to see all the running processes on your system, for that you need to press Alt+Ctrl+Del. This will launch 'Task Manager' then click on Process tab to see all the running processes. Then you need to manually search for 'svchost.exe' (you will find many but you need to carefully select the one which is having 'User Name' as your Windows login name). Refer to the below attached picture. After finding the process, right click on the process and click 'End Process Tree', and then click on OK. This will kill the running virus on your system.

NOTE: This only ends the running process ( i.e. the process). To completely remove the virus you have to edit the registry. I found an excellent video which helps you to do this.

Why should you blog? Top 10 Reasons



1. To Express Your Thoughts and Opinions

You have something to say, and blogs provide a place to say it and be heard.

2. To Market or Promote Something

Blogging is a great way to help market or promote yourself or your business, product or service.

3. To Help People

Many blogs are written to help people who may be going through similar situations that the blogger has experienced. Many parenting and health-related blogs are written for this purpose.

4. To Establish Yourself as an Expert

Blogs are wonderful tools to help bloggers establish themselves as experts in a field or topic. For example, if you're trying to get a job in a specific field or hoping to publish a book on a specific topic, blogging can help legitimize your expertise and expand your online presence and platform.

5. To Connect with People Like You

Blogging brings like-minded people together. Starting a blog can help you find those people and share your opinions and thoughts.

6. To Make a Difference

Many blogs are issue-based meaning the blogger is trying to provide information to sway people's thinking in a certain direction. Many political blogs and social issues blogs are written by bloggers who are trying to make a difference in their own ways.

7. To Stay Active or Knowledgeable in a Field or Topic

Since successful blogging is partially dependent on posting frequency and providing updated, fresh information, it's a perfect way to help a blogger stay abreast of the events in a specific field or topic.

8. To Stay Connected with Friends and Family

The world has shrunk since the Internet has become more accessible. Blogs provide a simple way for family and friends to stay connected from different parts of the world by sharing stories, photos, videos and more.

9. To Make Money

It's important to point out that most bloggers don't make a lot of money blogging, but the potential does exist to generate revenue from your blog with hard work and commitment. There are many bloggers who bring in big bucks. With patience and practice, you can make money through advertising and other income-generating activities on your blog.

10. To Have Fun and Be Creative

Many people start a blog simply for fun. Perhaps a blogger is a fan of a particular actor or loves knitting and wants to share that passion through a blog. One of the most important keys to successful blogging is having a passion about your blog's topic, so you can write prolifically about it. Some of the best and most interesting blogs started out as blogs that were written just for fun and to give the blogger a creative outlet.

Do you blog? A brief perspective.


What is a blog? It is basically a personal website( that means basically free) where one can post about almost any topic known to man(let's keep it to 'man' for the time being till PHEONIX returns with additional info ).

Wikipedia gives the following definitioin:

A blog (a contraction of the term "Web log") is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual[citation needed], with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.

If u like to have your own personal space on the web and also keep track of interesting subjects and help others , blogging is for you. More on 'why should you blog?' in the next post.

Blogging develped from maintain personal online diaries on the web. Starting from a few hundred blogger's in the late 90's blogging really picked up pace in 1999 . As I write this post ,
Technorati states that there are more than 112 million blogs today.



Who first said "LET'S BLOG?"

The term "weblog" was coined by Jorn Barger[44] on 17 December 1997. The short form, "blog," was coined by Peter Merholz, who jokingly broke the word weblog into the phrase we blog in the sidebar of his blog Peterme.com in April or May of 1999.[45][46][47] This was quickly adopted as both a noun and verb ("to blog," meaning "to edit one's weblog or to post to one's weblog").

Watershed events in blogging history:

  • Open Diary launched in October 1998, soon growing to thousands of online diaries. Open Diary innovated the reader comment, becoming the first blog community where readers could add comments to other writers' blog entries.
  • Brad Fitzpatrick, a well-known blogger started LiveJournal in March 1999.
  • Andrew Smales created Pitas.com in July 1999 as an easier alternative to maintaining a "news page" on a Web site, followed by Diaryland in September 1999, focusing more on a personal diary community.[52]
  • Evan Williams and Meg Hourihan (Pyra Labs) launched blogger.com in August 1999 (purchased by Google in February 2003).
Blogging tips in subsequent posts. Happy blogging!

Amazing youtube user-script

Ever wanted to watch youtube videos in HD(high definition) and download it directly from the youtube homepage without having to resort to any other site!!!! Me too!!!
I just stumbled upon an amazing youtube add-on script which allows you all of these and more. Its completely safe and user-friendly.

Its salient features are:

* Download the video as FLV, MP4 or High Quality FLV: click in the video title or use the download links in the right column1
* Resize the video manually and automatically
* Remove ads and any unwanted YouTube section; like the character counter, video annotations, Also Watching Now, Embed, etc...
* Change the video format
to the standard Low Quality FLV, MP4 or High Quality FLV, manually or
automatically. The video formats availability is autodetected and the
script can change to the best available video format automatically
* Automatically expand the video description, category, tags and URL information. The collapse links can be removed if desired
* Display all comments in the video page (up to 500 comments)
* Prevent only video autoplay, or both video autoplay and autodownload substituting the player with a thumbnail until it is clicked
* Change the Flash Player Quality attribute to a lower one to play the video with less CPU use.

The screen looks something like this:





















First u need to have the following:
1. Mozilla Firefox installed
2. Greasemonkey installed. Greasemonkey is a firefox addon which lets u run many useful scripts. Install greasemonkey here.

Now u can install the script here:
Install Yousable Tubefix