Monday, August 12, 2002

Product placement: After writing the item on the "Top five OS X utilities I could not live without" I began to think about blog product placement. True, I don't have a financial interest in any of these utilites -- as I was careful to spell out at the bottom of the squib -- but what if I did? Would that be so bad? Would that be immoral? Now, you might say, you work as a reporter and sometimes as an editor, isn't that against journalistic ethics? And I would have to say, yes, of course it is and in that life I would never do it. And I wouldn't here either, because I'm very old fashioned. But what's to stop someone else doing it? Nothing, I suspect. Just set up a blog and, in the midst of a bunch of valuable and non-commercial information, insert references to products (other Web sites in need of traffic would be the easiest) from which you derive a little cash on the side. I mean you're not going to make a lot of money at it, but it would be enough, say, to treat yourself to dinner once a week. All this discussion has made me particularly thirsty. I think I'll go and have a [insert name of cola or malt beverage here.] 6:25:31 PM    comment []

Tearful and abandoned: If you check the lower levels of the rankings for the most-read Salon blogs you'll see that large numbers of them appear to have been abandoned, without postings for a week or longer. What does this mean? Is everybody just off on vacation? Or is this a sign that keeping up a blog is far more effort than most people want to expend, especially with absolutely no assurance that anyone will ever read what you have to say? And what does this mean for Golf for Cats, to realize that it's listed in numbers of time read just above the cast-offs? Even the highly-ranked (number four, as memory serves) pornography blog hasn't had an entry since Aug. 2. 5:38:12 PM    comment []

Top five OS X utilities I could not live without: All right, let's do something useful with this space for a change. As my reader may have guessed by now, I work on a Mac. In order to cover myself -- so I don't end up in trouble with my employers the way Steve Olafson did with the Houston Chronicle -- I hasten to add that I've mentioned and recommended all these programs before for them, so, in a sense this is recycling. Anyway here they are: 1 to 3: Launchbar: Escape the tyranny of the dock, with a much more usable way of accessing programs. An alternative to this -- in a small, less expensive, but entirely useful way -- is Fruit Menu. Another program that does somewhat similar things is Keyboard Maestro. I use all of these in combination, according to their strengths. Many people will find just one is adequate. 4. CopyPaste: For many of us the simple old clipboard isn't enough. This puts it on performance enhancing drugs. I couldn't get along without it. 5. TextSpresso: Look, you're not going to need this excellent tool unless you're into heavy editing work, translating copy from one format to another, etc. For me, it removes having to deal with common style errors in freelance copy I handle. I have no connection with any of these companies, other than that I use their products. 1:15:00 PM    comment []