Feed: Weblogs, Inc. - AggScore: 59.3

Vote for Weblogs... to be at SXSW 2009

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Voting ends on August 29, but in the remaining hours you have a shot of sending several top bloggers, editors and managers to SXSW Interactive 2009. Here's a look at the two proposed panels:

The Organic Audience: Growing a Fanbase by Communicating
Engadget, Autoblog, Joystiq, TUAW, Cinematical and other Weblogs properties didn't create a fan base with ad campaigns, viral marketing or sleazy SEO. We did it by putting out the best content, having integrity and (most of all) keeping the conversation going. Hear the best and worst of those conversations.

Managing Virtual Teams: Choreography of Bits
Is your team distributed around the world? At Weblogs, Inc. we built a team of freelancers from around the globe. The daily coordination and management of over 500 bloggers on various platforms in different timezones is a challenge, but one the tools of the internet were made to tackle. Learn how we keep the gears oiled and how you can work in an increasingly distributed universe of talent.

NOTE: The SXSW Panel Picker servers have been up and down today, so keep trying. Thank you for your support!

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Joystiq presents: Massively

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We've been working diligently behind the scenes to put the finishing touches on our new offering to the MMO-crazed among you, and we're super proud to announce Massively, a blog that obsessively covers massively multiplayer online games. If you like WoW Insider you'll love Massively -- and if you've been itching for in-depth coverage of other worlds you currently inhabit, Massively is the place for you. We've assembled a team of top-notch writers and players to deliver breaking news, original features, and expert analysis about the MMOs you play, and the titles you're most looking forward to.

Hop on over and check us out -- to sweeten the pot we're doing 24 hours of Tabula Rasa giveaways to celebrate our co-birthday with Richard Garriott's new opus today, and 2 more weeks chock full of schwag after that. Hope to see you there!

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Everything Do-It-Youself at DIY Life

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We welcome another blog to the family this week: DIY Life. Covering the spectrum of DIY, the blog provides a steady stream of DIY projects, how-to's, ideas, tips, reviews, even safety recalls. Topical areas include home improvement, hobbies and crafts, technology projects, and home and family ideas and tips.

DIY Life is running a contest too-- over 30 days we'll be giving away over $4,000 in prizes. That's a new prize, a new tool, every single day for 30 days. Check out the DIY Life Toolstravaganza contest page for more info.

Here are a few posts showing the diversity of our content:

• 8 DIY wedding centerpieces
• How to get a perfect tan without the sun
• Chill a bottle of liquid in under 10 minutes
• Get new plants from cuttings
• Turn a light bulb into a Sea Monkey condo
• Safely getting spilled paint off the carpet
• How to conserve water while irrigating
• A quick fix for loose screws
• Using your digital camera as a PDA
• 17 great uses for tennis balls

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Autoblog Latino launches

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Weblogs welcomes a shiny-new blog: Autoblog Latino. Targeted to the US-based Spanish speaking audience, Autoblog Latino joins the Autoblog universe as another quality source of info for gearheads and car enthusiasts of every color and nationality. Of course, there's Autoblog Spanish as well, which covers the European and Latin American markets too. Autoblog Latino is housed under AOL Latino, an excellent community in itself.

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The biggest day in Weblogs history

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There are three huge events happening this week: the Detroit Auto Show, Macworld Expo and the Consumer Electronics Show, or CES. Luckily, Weblogs has a blog for each one! Autoblog has been a force to reckon with in Detroit, filling galleries with amazing hi-res pics and a ton of posts (they're at CES too!). TUAW continues coverage of Macworld, with podcasts, galleries and interviews. Engadget has CES so in its blood they have a "CES optimized" page layout you can use! Of course, Engadget has a slew of Macworld coverage as well, and somehow managed to cover all the CES keynotes AND the Macworld keynote yesterday-- complete with a liveblog, pics and video of Apple's iPhone. The sheer amount of information being provided is astounding, and would likely fill a hefty book.

The "net effect" of all this, as pointed out by our own Judith Meskill, was the single biggest day of traffic in Weblogs history, bar none. And as she explains, it's all because of you, our faithful readers. Were it not for your insatiable thirst for information, all the Autoblog galleries, CES layouts and iPhone analysis in the world wouldn't mean a thing. While we provide the content, it's you who turn to us for the info, when you could just watch the 6 o'clock news and get the gist of it. Of course, we've found our readers aren't casual bystanders. You are passionate about your interests, passionate about cars, about tech-- and maybe that's why blogs are so much fun. Because our bloggers are enthusiasts and fans just like you.

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HBO DVDs up for grabs at TV Squad!

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It's Festivus time at TV Squad again, and as part of the celebration they're giving away multiple series of some huge HBO shows. All you have to do for a chance to take home, say, five seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm (or multiple seasons of Deadwood, The Wire or Entourage), is rewrite any song with TV and/or Festivus-themed lyrics (you know, the Costanza holiday!). How hard can that be? You love TV, you love music, you prizes -- what have you got to lose? Stop surfing the web and get writing!

Submit your best effort in the comments, and stay tuned: The great minds at TV Squad will pick their favorite on December 20th.

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What keyboard and mouse do you use?

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TUAW wants to know. It seems like a simple question. If you're reading this right now you are more than likely using a keyboard and mouse of some sort. Is it whatever came with your machine? What keyboard and mouse do you use at home? At work? What would you rather use? Nearly all the Mac-heads at TUAW choose to use Microsoft mice. Strange but true. Head to TUAW to cast your vote.

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Movers and shakers: the Engadget Index

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Engadget and Blogging Stocks have teamed up to create the Engadget Index. A portfolio of the hot tech stocks both in front and behind the scenes of the technology sector. Engadget will update the index monthly and quarterly, to give a snapshot of the tech sector, which also gives a glimmer of insight into the consumer electronics world at large (of course, they didn't really buy the stocks, and aren't financial advisors, so take whatever they glean with a grain of blogging salt).

From Engadget:
"We "purchased" 1 share of stock from fifty technology companies hand-selected by our editors, at prices dated October 2nd, 2006 -- the first effective date of Q4 2006. Our total investment for the fifty stocks is $1475.16. As time presses on we'll make additions and subtractions to our running list of stocks as necessary. We will, of course, notify you guys whenever the portfolio lineup changes."

Stay tuned each month to see what happens...

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Netscape backstage on the "Heroes" set

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Netscape anchor Ryan Budke found himself on the set of NBC's hit Heroes (it probably wasn't as accidental as that), with a video camera and complete access to actors and producers and shenanigans and stuff. Here's the post. And check out some video--

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WIN (and a Crime Dog) at DigitalLife

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For those of us who weren't able to attend last weekend's DigitalLife event -- billed as "The ultimate consumer technology, gaming & entertainment event of the year" -- in New York City, Weblogs, Inc.'s tech blogs had the affair blanketed, and there's coverage galore across the network. Engadget and young son EdgadgetHD were there, along with The Wireless Report and Joystiq. Needless to say, they all covered the show from different angles, so go check them out and see what glorious games and gadgets are on the horizon. (Plus, maybe you can figure out what the heck McGruff was doing there.)

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DV Guru interviews director Sujewa Ekanayake

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With Google promising to open its video platform to indie filmmakers, and the acquisition of YouTube, it would seem self-distribution of movies is on the rise. Digital distribution makes sense, and it is potentially a powerful tool for those without a huge budget to get their films to audiences. With this in mind, Brian Liolia of DV Guru recently interviewed Sujewa Ekanayake. His film, Date Number One, was made on a shoestring, and Ekanayake is a master of DIY filmmaking. Now, with digital tools at his disposal, he has entered the world of DIY distribution as well.

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Twitching with Wii anticipation? Engadget and Joystiq have you covered.

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If you're one of the legions of gamers with the Nintendo Wii release date -- November 19, for those of you criminally out of touch with the gaming world -- circled in red on your calendar, Joystiq and Engadget's coverage of the console should at least give you a fix as you wait out the next five weeks. Most recently, Engadget scored not only a price list for Wii and accessories (including notes of markup margin, so you know exactly how much retailers are taking from you), but also a slew of spyshots featuring things like dog tags and controller gloves.

To catch up on all the Wii details you've missed, check out Joystiq's and Engadget's past coverage and, oh yeah, WIN's dedicated Wii site, where you can discuss Wii minutia with others who share your obsession.

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Autoblog, live from the Paris Motor Show

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Not to be outdone by the globetrotting Joystiq team, the Autoblog folks decided to take an international trip of their own and headed to Paris for the city's annual Auto Show. Though they're all back home now, the Autobloggers covered the show extensively, offering photo and text coverage of world premieres, flying vans and unbelievably gorgeous new cars from legendary automakers. Among lots of other things. Over on AutoblogGreen, meanwhile, there's coverage of all the hybrid and environmentally friendly offerings at the show, including this insane-looking space car "electro-solar hybrid vehicle."

Next up for the Autoblog team? The SEMA Show in Vegas over Halloween weekend -- stay tuned for early photos of many more world premieres.

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Joystiq at TGS

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The incredibly lucky bloggers over at Joystiq just got back from a few, game-filled days at the 2006 installment of the annual Tokyo Game Show. And, thanks to their hard work, the rest of us can pretend we were there (without the waiting in line). In addition to copious text and photo reports on upcoming games, they also posted tons of embedded video offering detailed looks at the show's big debuts. Though most of your gamers (quite reasonably) probably hang on Joystiq's every word, those of you who missed the reports can find them all collected here.

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Weblogs goes mobile

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Looking at Cinematical on your Blackberry giving your scrolling thumb cramps? Well, friends, your suffering is at an end: just point that mobile browser to the normal address and -- Wah-la! -- the fancy new site detects a mobile device and redirects you to a content-rich, small-screen friendly version of your favorite tech blog!* (If it doesn't autodetect -- Sidekick users, this means you -- simply type "m.cinematical.com" into your address line, and you're good to go.)

Also included in the first round of mobile roll-outs are Engadget, Download Squad, Engadget Mobile, EngadgetHD, Joystiq, TUAW and TV Squad, with more to come in the future.

*Keep in mind that the mobile version are in beta, so there may still be a few kinks in the system. If a page doesn't work the way it should, it will eventually. We promise.

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