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After struggeling to make Blogger do what I wanted to do with my Blog I gave up!

Blogger just does not cut it when it comes to hosting a business blog. WordPress demanded a bit more setup - and I needed my own host (which I already had) - but it now gives me access to features I did not get with Blogger. For example, categories was one of the features I was longing for!

On Monday November 28th I posted live from a seminar to my Blogger account and then used FTP to upload to my own domain. I also made a similar post to a test I was doing on the hosted version of WordPress . In checking - two days later - my Blogger entry had not been listed on Technorati, but my WordPress.com (hosted) had. It was really scary. End of Blogger for me.

It took me a week or so to move. I wanted to move my Blogger posts with me. There are scripts, but I could not get them to work properly. And having only 40 posts or so I thought I would just copy them manually. I also decided to leave the Blogger posts in my directory, so I made a change in the HTML showing only one link from each post - back to my new WordPress PHP driven homepage.

I’m sure there will be other updates I will want to do, but at least all my posts are now migrated and my FeedBurner links are implemented.

roar at roarweb dot com - reporting live with WordPress

A MarketWatch article looks at RealNetworks Rhapsody service - which now is available over the web.

Personally I’m uncertain I really want to spend my bandwidth on playing songs. Downloading is one thing, playing is another.

Anyway, I decided to have a look. I looked around for a bit, then clicked on a link to a Rolling Stones album. I could see from the URL that they had already detected I did not have their player (”http://..has-player=false”. Shouldn’t be a problem with a web based service, right?

Well, not so. While the site was advertising I could check the music out for free (or at least that what I thought it said), they just wouldn’t give me access. Why, I’m on a Canadian IP address!

So while this system might work well in the US, forget it if you are going on holidays outside the US or just happen to live in Vancouver, BC, the “most desirable place to live in the world“.

I guess, with my new iPod [story], that I can manage well without them.

I wish though they had done more for me that just to tell me “no”. Why not take me to a page showing what my alternatives were? My guess is that they would be OK selling me music???

roar at roarweb dot com

Note: This post moved from Blogger December 6, 2005

liveplasma music, movies, search engine and discovery engine

While I was touching on music I thought I would mention liveplasma.

What a great site. Type in the name of a band and you’ll get to see similar bands and “how popular they are”. Great transitions from search to search too.

Their database still has lots of room for improvement though. Many of the artists I search on could not be found. And some of the “popularity” results was a bit surprising to me. As a follow up to an earlier posting I decided to search on Rolling Stones. I was surprised to see Neil Young [wiki] being so much more popular. Maybe he is or maybe it reflects a North-American view of the world? Something to think about anyway if you’re not from this part of the world.

roar at roarweb dot com

Note: This post moved from Blogger on December 6, 2005

I’m a winner!

While I’ve long known I’m a “lucky guy”, with a great family and good friends, I’ve now graduated from the “Super 7: One Free Play Winner” circle to be the winner of an iPod nano. In about a week I will be able to pick up my black iPod nano from the offices of e-hosting.ca.

I’ve been considering a new web host lately. I guess I should look further at e-hosting.ca’s plans $9.95 for 500MB with lots of extras doesn’t look that bad…

Hey, e-mail from MyPoints just came in - looks like the Gap is given away another nano + a chance to win $10,000 ) hmm…

roar at roarweb dot com

Note This post moved from Blogger December 6, 2005

What a busy week on the Blogging event front. Monday there was Blogging 101 at the International Internet Marketing Association (IIMA). Wednesday the IIMA hosted “Advanced Blogging”, where Arieanna Foley and Tris Hussey continued to teach a group of Vancouver marketers about blogging and blogging teqniques.

Yesterday (Thursday), the BC Association of Integrated Marketers (BCAIM) hosted its Christmas Luncheon with Darren Barefoot. Darren “demystified blogging” and gave the audience some good insight in the power blogs are starting to have in many fields. Especially interesting was his examples which showed how important it has become for organizations to be a part of the conversation, to monitor what is said about them before they have a major public relations disaster at hand.

roar at roarweb dot com

Note: This post moved from Blogger on December 6, 2005

This post moved from Blogger on December 6, 2005