Gizmodo: blogs

Amazon Opens Kindle to All Bloggers

Jesus Diaz — Thu, 14 May 2009 09:55:43 EDT

If you are a blogger and want to sell a subscription to your blog, now you can sign up for the Kindle Publishing for Blogs beta program. Amazon will convert your full RSS in a Kindle-friendly stream and put it up for sale in their store.

Right now, blog monthly subscriptions are $2. Of that 70% will go to Amazon and 30% will go to you, which—knowing that people can read RSS in computers and cellphones—will probably result in $0 for Amazon and $0 for you.

Overheard at CES: Ego Boost

Mark Wilson — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:00:30 EST

"A blog? Is that like the internet?"

Heard in: the International Pavilion...over the shattering of two Gizmodo writers' hearts.

Comedian Stephen Fry Gets Guardian Column on Gadgets

Jason Chen — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 13:45:15 EDT

Hoping to put us out of a job, The Guardian gave British comedian Stephen Fry his own column about gadgets. You'll remember that we wrote about Fry's huge rant on smartphones (the same rant that got him this job), taking to task just about every manufacturer (including Apple) for sub-par work. In his new column, which we're sure will be better than any gadget blog on the net (including this one) he'll focus on not just smartphones, but general gadgetry, which includes computers, music players, game consoles, and so forth. Good thing for us his columns only appear once a week. [Guardian via Wired]

PC Mag's linkbaiting 100 Favorite Blogs piece...

Jason Chen — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 12:29:26 EDT

PC Mag's linkbaiting 100 Favorite Blogs piece has this under our entry: "... Now that's what we call tech writing." Thanks baby! [PCMag]

The Ultimate Gadget Lover Takes Pics of Same Vending Machine Daily for Two Years

AddyDugdale — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 08:35:09 EDT

If you ever wake up in the morning and think: "Every day is just the same old same old," then maybe you need to look at Ryuuichi Terada's blog. Entitled "I Take a Picture of the Same Vending Machine Every Day (or so). I'm Very Sorry," the Sapporo-based man has spent the past two years doing exactly that, highlighting the changes made when the machine is restocked &mdash like this:

As you can see from the top images, August is a quiet month in the world of vending interiors. July, however, on the left, was mad crazy, with all the products moving one place to the right. In case you don't know what his arrows mean, Mr Terada also writes down the changes, rather like a chess game &mdash C3 to C4, C4 to C5, etc etc.

When he goes away on business trips or is too busy to document the life of his favorite machine, it is up to Mrs Terada to keep the vending machine vigilance. And fellow ~~OCD sufferers~~ vending-machine enthusiasts will be pleased to know that next month will be All Change, as October is when cold drinks are swapped for hot ones. Mr Terada's red Photoshop pencil will be busy. [Jihan via Kilian Nakamura]

Microsoft Starts Hackers MSDN Blog. Wait, What?

Jason Chen — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 12:45:38 EDT

Microsoft just launched a new blog on their MSDN network (their network for developers) for hackers. Microsoft, of course, hires "white hat" hackers to come and work for them by throwing money at "talent," and having them test Microsoft products for security vulnerabilities and weaknesses. (Something tells us they need to throw more money at this problem.) In any case, despite being called and aimed at hackers, who knows whether actual hackers will get any use out of this blog. [MSDN]

RIAA Boycott: "Hey Music Bloggers, Enough with the Free Publicity Already!"

Adam Frucci — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 11:15:00 EST

The way I see it, music blogs are a 21st century update to FM radio just as much as satellite radio or podcasts. How so? Well, when I was a kid, I listened to the radio to discover new bands and songs and hear the DJs tell me about them. To me, DJs were tastemakers, guys that knew a ton about new artists and filtered through the garbage to get me quality tunes. Sure, that might not have been entirely accurate back then and it certainly isn't now, but I don't think that notion is too far out in left field.

Blogs fulfill the role that I saw radio DJs having back in the day, only they do a much better job. Rather than 15 radio stations of various genres, there are about a million blogs catering to every taste under the sun. They provide news and info on new bands and, conveniently, often post single tracks from upcoming or buzzed about albums for people to check out. As a rule, they never post entire albums. They aren't some file warehouse, they're publications, and as publications about music it only makes sense that they give you a sample of what they're writing about. Just like the radio, they whet your palate for the music they teach you about. The RIAA should love the free publicity from this, right?

Wrong. This is the RIAA we're talking about, after all. The past few days has seen a sudden influx of blogs getting shut down after the RIAA harasses their hosting providers. Are blogs the next target for the RIAA lawyerbots? Is there a logical reason for them to be doing this? There's been a kind of unspoken truce between the RIAA and bloggers for a long time, one that says that as long as you only post one or two songs and are writing about the artists, it's OK. Why the sudden change of heart? What, suing students doesn't make you seem like big enough dicks, so you've decided to go after the biggest fans of your music? Keep it up dudes, there are still more stupid moves you can make to further alienate potential customers. –Adam Frucci

RIAA Hitting Music Bloggers Right In The Bandwidth? [Idolator]