DIPPING INTO THE BLOGPOND HAS MOVED! !

24 hours+ and I’m exhausted. Not convinced that I’ve done the right thing, but it’s done.

My new blog is located at blogpond.com.au.

I can take a hint

Yes Leigh - I kept some pink

The new feed is http://feeds.feedburner.com/DippingIntoTheBlogpond

in case anyone’s interested.

I noticed that there are some changes over at Technorati in the way they are reporting.

Blogs are now given an “authority” figure (which I gather is the number of blogs linking to it). See screenshot below

They used to be reported as such

So, the larger the “authority” and the lower the “rank” the better.

I’ve recalculated the Top 100 Australian Blogs Index.

Debuting (or re-appearing) this week:

http://blogpond.wordpress.com
(yes, due to public consensus, I’ve added my blog back in)
http://www.bannerblog.com.au
http://www.caradvice.com.au
http://tims-boot.blogspot.com
http://www.bhatt.id.au/blog/
http://www.gardeningtipsnideas.com
http://lloydi.com/blog
http://blog.clickonline.org.au
(Way to go Matt - this is a terrific program!)
http://www.digitalskies.net
http://www.crazymeezer.com.au
(Way to go Leigh - that makes 2!)
http://www.michaelvisser.com.au
http://www.middlemiss.org/weblog/matilda
http://www.standardzilla.com

Again, special thanks to Scott Yang, and also Anthony at The Local. His new additions help me flag blogs to check. If you’re an Aussie Blogger, I highly recommend you submit your blog to Blogs.com.au.

Also, special congratulations to our own Duncan Riley who appears to have a new writing gig on Techcrunch (the 18th most popular blog in the world according to Technorati).

Over in the U.S. they seem to have an active culture of reviewing businesses, be it restaurants, tradesmen, retail outlets and the like.

Popular sites such as Yelp, Judy’s book and recently their Yellow Pages joined the review market (any one for a roach in their food?)

Continued Reviews and Ratings - is this going too far?

I acknowledge that I spend way too much time at my computer, so it makes perfect sense that I have Skype (introduced to me by my 16 year old son who loves talking to people all around the world).

Nick Randolf recently announced a Skype challenge, whereby he would forgo his land line in favour of Skype and his mobile.

Continued What’s so great about Skype

Via Phil at Squash I read that Google yesterday launched one of the first country specific “official” blogs - “The Official Google Australia Blog“.

They have two posts so far “We’re up and running“

We’re proud that Google Australia was one of the first international Google offices and is now a hub for the entire Asia Pacific region. Google Maps started here, but lots of Australians are keen for more information about Google in Australia: Who works here? What do we do all day? Can we bring snakes to the office? Do we use Pigeon Rank or Kookaburra Rank?

And a post entitled Express Yourself with iGoogle.

What’s iGoogle about? Funny that I should notice when I signed into my Google account today that the personalisation I did to the home page weeks (?) ago, were in place. I’d dismissed it out of my mind, but I’d chosen one of the themes…

Apparently iGoogle reflects “your own personalisation and ownership of your homepage”. I wonder where the “i” came from, and whether it’s a global prefix?

Google are also calling for suggestions for “Aussie-specific themes” (note to all you creative types - though they’re not asking for artwork).

Definitely one to add to the feed reader!

Dipping into the Blogpond featured in yesterday’s edition of the Sydney Morning Herald’s Icon in the “Hot Blogs” section of Webwatch on page 15 (many thanks to Seamus Byrne and Icon).

Also mentioned was Helen’s Grab Your Fork (which is #41 on the Top 100 Australian Blog Index).

Welcome to Icon readers, and thanks to Nareev from Road Less Travelled for the “heads up”.

They were there yesterday, honestly!

But something is wrong with this picture:

Or was it something I said?

Oh good - seems I’m not the only one - Andy Merritt

Following on from yesterday’s Ultimate Guide to (un) Productivity, I have had an extremely productive day, and feel really good about that Baby steps.

An article today in the SMH rang a bell with me (my husband Theo pointed it out).

It’s what I did inadvertently with my Google reader the other day. I was in “list view” and instead of hitting “refresh”, I hit “mark all as read” OOPS! There goes 100+ unread posts in a folder. After momentary panic, I realised it felt good! So I went through my other folders, skimming the headlines, reading those that jumped out at me, and then was absolutely ruthless with the “mark all as read” button (don’t worry - I’m sure your post was one of the ones I read ).

It felt somewhat liberating to start from scratch again! So I can relate to this quote

“I am so far behind on email that I am declaring bankruptcy,” New York-based venture capitalist Fred Wilson wrote in his blog last week.

“If you’ve sent me an email (and you aren’t my wife, partner, or colleague), you might want to send it again. I am starting over.”

I tend to stay on top of my email, and I move emails that require action into a “TO DO” folder.

Anyway, have a look at Under Seige, Users Declare Email Bankruptcy.

The term “email bankruptcy” was coined by Stanford Law School professor Lawrence Lessig in 2004, when he was inundated with an average of 200 non-spam emails a day and had spent 80 hours in a week sorting through unanswered email.

Have you ever declared email or RSS Feed Bankruptcy?

My friend Alister Cameron has written a very poignant post entitled “If you don’t have Passion and Purpose, Greater Productivity won’t help you!” It’s not a quick, throw away read by any stretch of the imagination and Alister delivers a meaningful message. I daresay there may be an “aha” moment for many readers - there was for me. He begins:

If what you do with the best hours of your day is not also the thing you’re passionate about, stop right now!

Stop right now and confront the cold hard facts for what they are: no amount of effectiveness training, time management skills, productivity tips and tricks or goal setting know-how will replace the critical missing ingredient of your life: passion.

Continued The Ultimate Guide to Productivity