In a few short months we will start gearing up for campaigning. As a result the Federal Election Commision will be unveiling new policies regarding bloggers and campaign finance laws.

…. that could limit political Web logs and e-mail solicitations and would be similar to campaign-finance laws that apply to more traditional advocacy groups, such as the AFL-CIO and the National Rifle Association.
The rules could limit the amount of campaign money bloggers would be allowed to raise and the amount federal campaigns would be allowed to spend on Internet advertising.

Via Washington Times

So as a policy we stay away from politics here. But really this is one moment I have to comment. I’m glad both conservatives and liberals alike are standing up and saying these regulations are not good for America, for democracy, or for freedom of speach. Mostly because it restricts how people spend their time campaigning online.

Originally posted on March 23, 2006 @ 12:26 am

I’m fairly new to the “blog network” space. Over the weekend the best and worst comes out in people. I usually take the weekend off to spend with the wife and kids. I found this great quote over at BusinessLogs

At Jason Fried’s keynote with Jim Coudal, Jason talked about how the majority of the people who complain about their products (either via email, or by trolling in their blog entry comments) are the ones who use the free versions of 37signals products. The people who are paying 1 or more monthly fees don’t complain, because they feel as though they’re getting $100 value per month for $14, or whatever it is and love 37signals. If you’re using a product for free but still feel the need to complain, I think you need to learn The Art of Sucking Down :)

Likewise,
Many people don’t realize blogs are the independent newspapers of the Internet. We operate using free products, and even the news itself which garners a significant amount of traffic from a variety of sources is free. We may not always operate the way some want. And we may not always operate it the way we want. Much time and energy goes into these blog networks and much of it is hardly re payed. What so many people have to understand is this: The Blog Network Owners aren’t the audience of this publication. That makes about as much sense as Les Moonves setting up a TV Channel for Ted Turner.

Let’s realize there are more important issues to talk about. I even chide Matt Craven, our managing Editor for this one. Seriously why isn’t the Blogosphere alive with talks about Net Neutrality and its importance to Blogging,and the future of New Media. OK, chide’s a heavy word. But seriously. Let’s have a discussion on bandwidth,and potential legislation on Net Neutrality before I have to report on some new legislation that could affect us all negatively.

Originally posted on March 19, 2006 @ 8:12 pm

Google has launched Google Finance an “ajaxy portal” loaded with business info and information from blogs. Huh. Ok first off I really have to put into question whether this is wise. Blogs are not a good source of solid info for people to making financial decisions. First off blogs aren’t newsworthy the majority of the time. They are pulling the data from the Google Blogsearch which I find as useful as technorati except that it stays upline most of the time. But its still got a long way to go. Google’s latest two moves into portals really confuse me. And using blogs inside their Finance Portal confuses me even more. But this is my opinion. There’s bound to be better opinions out there on this subject. In fact Charlene Li has a great review about Google Finance. So go check it out. Because she has more rounded take on this. Than my viewpoint from being saturated in the blogging industry. Although the quote that’s banging around in my brain comes from Threadwatch:

What are the odds that it could lead to some angry mob justice bloggers getting sued by shareholders or mega corps who see their stock get punished from blog rumors?

Originally posted on March 21, 2006 @ 11:32 am

The Blog Herald has a sibling. Yup, a sister site has come along and been born. As The Blog Herald has covered blogging news for a long long time. So the Mobile Herald will be to cellular technology,mobile content, and the mobile tech industry. With a crew of 5+ bloggers, and a creative designer we are very proud to announce the beginnings of this sister site.

The Bloggers:
Ben, our foreign correspondent from Australia
David Krug, the artist formerly known as Cowboy
Jen Lima, a spicy latin cell phone and gadget enthusiast
Chris Pearson, Designer and Cell Phone Enthusiast
Marcus, (me), Freelance Journalist + ProBlogger and Cell Phone Nut

The Sibling: Mobile Herald : Subscribe to the Feed

Originally posted on March 20, 2006 @ 12:56 pm

cocomment launched a new verion yesterday it’s proudly named “Jegi’s Work”. They highlighted some cool features. One thing they did to win me over was this new privacy feature. In the past I didn’t want to use the service because someone would inevitably find out where I was commenting and would just know too much about the blogs I visit. But with these features I feel a lot more comfortable using their service.

Here’s the highlight of the new version of cocomment.

First there is now a privacy feature. In your account page you can now hide yourself, or better your virtual identity from others. You can remove yourself from top user list or recent cloud or you can hide ‘Your conversations’ completely from others. Or just disable the blog box or the RSS feed.

The other important new feature allows to ‘pimp your blog’ even more. You now have a small box showing the top (co)users on your blog and a box with the top (co)tags. Both of these boxes can be added to your blog just as the current blog box.

via cocomment

Originally posted on March 23, 2006 @ 12:21 pm