Category Archives: blogging

ME : the confused blogger

It’s 3 am, early morning and it’s raining outside. I have a cup of coffee on my table.

Hmmm … na ..   I was just trying to make this blog post sound normal,  which it is definitely not. This is a confused post from a confused blogger.

Confusion Number One : What type of blog is this ?

Surprised ? Yes, I am confused to the bottom ! What type of a blog is this ? Is this a personal blog ? If  the answer is yes, what happened to my “personal” posts ? No updates about where I am, what I am up to these days .. etc etc …   then how can you call this a personal blog ?.

Okay, then .. is this a tech blog ? oops …. no … posting some links about news you find online doesn’t make this a tech blog .. right ? and yes, archives are full of personal posts and ramblings …

Now, help me, dear friend .. on your books, is this a personal blog or a tech blog ?

Confusion Number Two : What Happened to my comments ?

I have nothing more to say about this .. check the number of comments on few recent posts here .. and then take a look at the archives here … see posts with 25, and 50 comments ?

Something is terribly wrong here .. and I have no idea what it is !! Help me !!

Did I confused you too ? I am sorry ….. GOOD !!

image by db*photography

Is Orkut trying to Imitate Twitter ?

Orkut has always been different. It was about friendship, not about link sharing or the typical social media networking.  Now orkut has announced a new feature that lets you promote your content. And yes, its called “Orkut Promote”

You can share links, photos and videos to your friends using this new feature. If your friends like it, they can “spread” it among their friends. Plus, you can track your promotions, how many people shared it with their friends, how many people clicked on your links etc. Simple ?

Is Orkut trying to Imitate twitter ?

If orkut has made it this simple, why should I confuse you explaining things in words ? Here is a video  ….

I think it’s really cool ! and I am going to use this to promote my blog on Orkut. I know you guys are also going to do the same :D . And yes … not just my blog ok ? I will share your blogs too, whenever I find something interesting from you people !!

Are you still active on Orkut ?

Yes. I am still active on orkut. It is ( still ) a good way to stay connected with old school and college friends. However, when you compare it with other social networking sites like friendfeed or twitter, this is not really about sharing links and content online. This is little different, and I like it.

Is Orkut as good as friendfeed or facebook ?  I don’t know the answer for that question ( do you ? ) .. but I know that orkut is really simple, and that’s why it is still my favorite.  Here is a new feature that helps you promote your content on orkut.  Well, this is simple too.

source : Orkut Blog

Thousand Birdies Giveaway

Hi guys, this is a quick post to inform you all about the Thousand Birdies Giveaway by Gis, my blog-friend and designer. She is celebrating 1000 RSS feed readers. ( Blog of Small Things reached 100 feed readers last week )

If you win, you will get your blog redesigned by her, for free. If you are on blogspot, or using self hosted wordpress blog, do checkout some free themes on her blog ; I should say free and cute themes.

Wish me good luck guys !

Do you have enough time for blogging ?

Sometimes I feel that I have all the time in the world for blogging, ( just that I don’t have enough blogging ideas ).

Then I looked around and found many people who write regularly ( personal blogs maintained by individuals with at least one post a day ) and even blogging superheros like Nikhil who manage multiple blogs with ease ( what’s the magic dude !! ) . So they have something more valuable than blogging time; blogging ideas and the flow.

But there is another group who struggle finding enough time for blogging. yet another group struggling to find ideas ( I am in this group guys !! ) Which group do you belong to ?

Is it easy for you to find time or ideas for blogging ? How do you find post ideas, where you do you save them ?

photo credit

Thank you, Google Reader

Thank You Google Reader

Thank You Google Reader

I should say thanks to Google Reader, for all the work that it does for me. I know this is not “Thanks Giving Day”, but I can’t wait for next “Thanks Giving Day”.

How will I track those 200+ blogs, forums, anything and everything with RSS feed on it, if Google Reader was not there ? ( I know some of you use other feed readers and not google reader, say thanks to your rss reader, whatever it is .. OK? ).

Continue reading →

Is this what people call “writers block” ?

I know the feeling, kid.

I know the feeling, kid.

First of, I am not  a writer to call this a “writers block”, so let us call this “blogger’s block”, ok ?

It’s been a while since I updated my blogs. I keep the “Add New Post” page open for a long time waiting for some thought to come in to my mind ( or to my fingers, if not mind ), but I sit there, and nothing happens. I read those inspiring blogs again and again …. things that can usually make me write something .. ( there are a few blogs where I spend hours, or visit 25 times a day, I will tell you later ) but no … nothing happens ..  Is this what you call Bloggers’ Block ?

Continue reading →

Better Sidebar Widget Management with WordPress 2.8

Is the current wordpress dashboard design perfect ? Except the widget management page, it’s awesome, that’s what I think …do you agree with me ?

The problem with the current widget management page is this : Suppose your theme has two sidebars/widget areas, and you want to move your text widget from first to the second sidebar. You will remove it from the first sidebar, save changes, select second sidebar from the drop down menu, click “show”, then add the widget to the second sidebar … but wait, already spent a lot of time “clicking” and now, do you have the content of the text widget ? NO !! You should copy the content somewhere before you remove it from the first sidebar ….. you are lost ..

…. Not any more .. here is the new widgets panel, that’s going to be ready with WordPress 2.8, the next release. Have a look, and you will understand how it solves all these issues. For those who are curious if wordpress.com users will get this feature, the answer is a BIG YES ! You may get this even before self hosted wordpress blog users, just wait n watch!! ( Click on the image to enlarge. )

Wordpress 2.8 new widgets panel

Wordpress 2.8 new widgets panel

PS: Please note that this version of wordpress, 2.8 that is, under development, and there may be changes to this feature when it’s released.

How to add your wordpress.com blog, and sitemap to Google Webmaster Tools

Even if you are not an expert in SEO and stuff like that, there are things that you can do easily, even with your free wordpress.com blog. I am not an SEO geek either. I only have basic knowledge of these things, but still certain things are possible because it’s very easy.

This blog post will help you find the XML sitemap of your wordpress.com blog, and add it to Google using Webmasters Tools, a free service offered by Google. This is going to take 15 minutes of your time.

Continue reading →