] Sometimes the next big thing on the Net reshapes the
] online world (universal e-mail, a graphical browser for
] the Web); sometimes it evaporates upon contact with
] business reality (PointCast, anyone?). Wise companies
] explore new trends cautiously, and that seems to be
] what's happening with weblogs.
]
] Most of the companies I've observed using blogs are
] trying it on their customers before unleashing it
] internally on their staffs. The external need,
] apparently, is more pressing. Many businesses already
] have other systems in place for managing internal
] information, ranging from simple brown-bag lunches to
] overkill knowledge-management regimens. But companies are
] always looking for better ways to touch base with
] existing and potential customers, and there's no hotter
] way to communicate on the Net than via a weblog.

Management by Blog?

] It's sad to say, but I've become addicted to blogs. And I
] guess that if I'm going to become addicted to anything in
] college, a blog - no matter what you think it sounds like
] - is one of the best things to become addicted to. So
] what is it, you ask?
]
] Look up the term in most English dictionaries, and you
] won't even be able to find it. In fact, my spell check
] doesn't even recognize the word.
]
] Turn to the Internet, however, and you'll find an
] abundance of blogs. The website marketingterms.com's
] definition of blog is "a frequent, chronological
] publication of personal thoughts and Web links." It
] further says that it "is often a mixture of what is
] happening in a person's life and what is happening on the
] Web, a kind of hybrid diary/guide site, although there
] are as many unique types of blogs as there are people."
] In simpler terms, it is a web log.
]
] My blog of choice is LiveJournal. On that host, I have
] found many interesting people. But the catch is, I don't
] really have to know them. I can peruse through days and
] days of people's inner thoughts and daily happenings with
] just the click of a mouse.

Online journals give people chances to vent feelings, catch up with friends

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- While many in the advertising and marketing industry debate whether to continue advertising during wartime, RealNetworks is taking advantage of huge traffic surges at Web news sites to aggressively sell its RealOne Superpass video service.

CNN.com and ABCnews.com
The company, which charges for use of its proprietary RealOne Superpass video streaming system, has partnered with two major news sites -- CNN.com and ABCnews.com. Both Web sites have closed off their video war news to all but those who pay for the RealOne Superpass media player.

Meanwhile, war news rivals such as CBSnews.com and MSNBC.com are making "free video" a major element of their Web site graphics and promotions.

Merrill Brown
Making this all the more interesting, Merrill Brown, the editor who originally built MSNBC.com into a highly respected online news powerhouse, is now the senior vice president of RealNetwork's RealOne Services and, through Real's CNN and ABC partnerships, is in competition with his old online newsroom.

WEB VIDEO BATTLE RAGES AMONG WAR NEWS SITES

] The newest digital players can even write their own songs
]
] So you wanna be a rock-'n'-roll star? Well, listen now:
] skip the electric guitar, get yourself a MadPlayer %u2014
] a handheld device developed in France for London-based
] MadWaves. It's a one-stop musical shop %u2014 an MP3
] player for grabbing music from the Internet, an FM tuner,
] and a karaoke machine that allows you to download backing
] music, view the lyrics and sing. But its chief function
] is as an interactive music composer that creates original
] songs on the fly. Pick one of 21 styles (like hip-hop or
] house music) and push a button. Out pops a fully composed
] song, with an introduction, ending, chord progression,
] melody and rhythm. (Chart success and groupies not
] included.) Music executives think it has great potential
] for getting tech-addicted kids to interact with music.
] Less ambitious? Settle for Microsoft's Media2Go, a
] software platform based on Windows CE that stores up to
] 8,000 songs or 175 hours of video. It should be on sale
] by the end of the year, when your MP3 player is full.
] %u2014 J.L.S

TIME Europe Magazine: Fashion Calling -- Bring The Noise

] Adam Osborne, 64, a technical writer, business executive
] and computer pioneer whose Silicon Valley achievements
] included the introduction of the Osborne 1, the first
] portable personal computer, died March 18 at his home in
] Kodiakanal, India.
]
] Dr. Osborne had an organic brain syndrome and died
] following a series of strokes.
]
] He introduced his computer in June 1981 at the West Coast
] Computer Fair. The computer, which retailed at $1,795,
] weighed 24 pounds and was about the size of a sewing
] machine. Dr. Osborne designed the machine to be light
] enough to carry as luggage and compact enough to fit
] under a commercial airline seat.

Computer Pioneer Adam Osborne Dies at 64

] MANDRAKE%u2014THE ONLINE ALIAS for 42-year-old Steve
] Bail, borrowed from Stanley Kubrick%u2019s film
] %u201CDoctor Strangelove%u201D%u2014is a war blogger. A
] seven-year veteran of the Royal Air Force, Bail now
] spends his spare time running a Web log, a diarylike
] personal Web page, devoted to chronicling and discussing
] the war in Iraq ( lionelmandrake.blogspot.com ).
]
] He%u2019s not alone: in the past few years,
] hundreds of thousands of bloggers have staked out
] hypertext positions along the Internet%u2019s newest
] frontier. These guerrilla pundits, denizens of the
] so-called blogosphere, come in all shapes and sizes:
] artists, music buffs, politicos and the occasional
] journalist. But with the onset of hostilities in Iraq,
] the news-related sites have moved to the forefront. In
] fact, not since the days after September 11%u2014the
] birth, many say, of the war blog%u2014has online traffic
] been so heavy. %u201CBlogs may come of age in this
] war,%u201D says Bail, noting that since the Tomahawks
] started flying, he%u2019s seen a huge spike in
] readership.

Bloggers Over Baghdad

] Mossberg spells it out
]
] It's only a matter of time before someone comes out with
] a parlor game edition of "Are Weblogs Mainstream Yet?"
] The media have been playing this game for months, and
] despite so many headlines hinting that indeed, weblogs
] are now mainstream, the text of such articles seems to
] beg off from that notion.
]
] The SF Gate kicked off the game last July with the
] online-only article: "Blogging Hits the Mainstream, For
] Better or Worse." Now what prompted reporter Joyce
] Slayton to think weblogs were mainstream, way before Pyra
] Labs and Blogger.com were bought by Google? Seems there
] was a class offered last fall at UC Berkeley's Graduate
] School of Journalism on blogging. Bloggers were up in
] arms! "They will destroy everything good about it," cried
] the Daily Pundit.

Blogging Goes Mainstream, Take 258

] BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Like most Americans, Indiana
] University law professor Jeff Cooper became a news junkie
] in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. But
] after a while, learning what others had to say about
] current affairs wasn't enough.
]
] ''I wanted to not only read a lot about what was
] happening, but I wanted to say something, too,'' he said.
]
] So Cooper, 38, launched a personal Web site to air his
] political views.
]
] Cable news came of age during the first Persian Gulf War.
] Online commentary -- or blogging, as it is known -- may
] have found its moment in this second campaign against
] Saddam Hussein.
]
] It is an unexpected turn of events.
]
] Web logs -- hence the geekish contraction ''blogs'' --
] began as cyberspatial diaries on which writers posted
] snippets of whatever came to mind or to their attention.
] Narcissism and tedious anarchy were the order of the day.
]
] Over time the blogs began to take on many of the
] characteristics of privately printed 19th century
] pamphlets -- places where overlooked or simply eccentric
] preoccupations could be aired.

'Blogs' and the Internet come of age in Iraqi war

] For those of you who don't know, there is a revolution
] underway-and it's underground. A movement of would-be
] journalists, reporters, and creative thinkers are
] publishing article after article, (some of them read by
] thousands of people a day) on the internet. These online
] writers are called "bloggers", and the columns and
] articles that they write are called "blogs."
]
] If the mainstream news is provided by the more
] traditional sites along the information superhighway,
] (CNN.com, MSNBC.com, etc.) blogs are the frontage roads
] which enable the reader to go just as fast and reach the
] same destination all while getting the feeling of
] choosing the "road less traveled."
]
] The word "blog" comes from two words, actually; "web" and
] "log." A blog is an online journal (web log) of sorts,
] except that the blog is shared with the world, not just
] future posterity

'Online Campers: Throw Another Blog on the Fire'

] There's a new breed of combat personnel at the war front:
] soldier "bloggers."
]
] Once the narrow domain of geeks and technology
] journalists, "Web logs" -- or diary accounts published
] online -- have gone mainstream, making it possible for
] even soldiers to transmit daily updates to Web sites
] about the rigours of battle.
]
] War-themed blogs, appearing on sites such as
] www.blogsofwar.com and www.sgtstryker.com, have become a
] popular alternative news source since fighting broke out
] in Iraq a week ago, sometimes beating newspapers and
] television with war developments.

Soldier 'bloggers' report from war