So, there I was, sending a message on MySpace (please quell your laughter) to a friend. I was ready to send it off, hoping that the user would check his account before the end of 2009 when, lo, a small icon labeled DotSpots popped onto the screen suggesting that I create a “Dot” of the message content. Earlier in the week I’d downloaded the program (currently available in beta version via the FireFox browser), wondering if this was the fourth coming of the ancient Project Xanadu. To test my theory and out of sheer curiosity, I figured that it was time to take the Dots for a test drive.

DotSpots, under the wing of co-founder Farhad Mohit, formerly of BizRate and Shopzilla.com, was first launched at the TechCrunch50 in 2008 to rave reviews. The Dots of DotSpots are annotation devices that can be distributed to equivalent copies of semantically similar text on the web. In many tech and social media forums, the format has drawn comparisons to Snipd and Diigo, both services in which the public can link and annotate existing subject matter on the web, but lack semantic matching capabilities. Mohit strongly believes that the purpose of journalism should be to frame issues, investigate issues from all sides, and to provide eye-witness accounts in investigative reporting. Unlike the aforementioned services, Mohit and company intend to enrich news media content by getting a few thousand high quality citizen journalists, bloggers, and activists into the fold as early adopters. This will allow them to enhance formidable news sources using Dots, causing mainstream media outlets to address those three areas. When this occurs, the DotSpots team will approach news publishers with a server side solution to turn DotSpots on for everyone, without the need for the plug-in which is now required to use the service. Read the rest of this entry »

The blogosphere can be a pretty overwhelming place.  As a new blogger, or someone deciding to commit more time and effort to your blog, you have many choices to make. One of the first and most important is which platform to use. In order to make the best decision, you need to consider your goals and priorities, because different platforms are geared towards different types of blogs.

If you want to post multimedia content, with easy uploading and a user-friendly interface, check out Tumblr. This is a great platform for quote lovers and photographers. In addition to traditional text, photo, and video entry options, you can also add quotes, links, chats, and audio to your page. Posts are generally short, and many people enjoy posting often.  A popular feature on Tumblr is reblogging. Each post has the option to reblog, so if you see something on someone else’s page that you like, you can just click the button to put it on your page as well. Tumblr even takes care of attribution for you, including a link to the person who originally posted the reblogged content. Read the rest of this entry »

Ok here is the deal.  Ploked.com needs a kick ass take no prisoners pimped out WordPress Design Makeover.  I am talking something eye catching and brandable.  Nothing lame will be considered and it must have a nice Web 2.0 feel to it.

Requirements

• Web 2.0 Look/Feel
• Single Sidebar on right hand side (widget ready)
• Sidebar Column must be wide enough to accommodate two 125×125 pixel banners side by side
• 3 Column Footer (widget ready)
• Prefer White in the body area, but open to suggestions on entire color scheme Read the rest of this entry »