Tech News Beats

There are tons of free blog host service providers these days but what should be our criteria for selecting one. Just do not go by if it is free, as if your blog becomes popular - it can open many earning oppurtunity. The criterias should be:

Webspace - How much webspace is provided - unlimited the better.

Uptime - The site should be 99.99% time online.

Bandwidth - How much bandwidth is provided? If you gain huge traffic at a latter stage will it be able to handle it? Unlimited bandwidth always better.

Features - what all features apart from the basic ones?

Monetization - Does it allow you to run your own ads? or it has some sharing income policy.

Keeping the above criterias in mind, I will give you a list of free blog hosts.

1. www.blogger.com - Unlimited webspace and unlimited bandwidth. Lots of features and allows monetization.

2. www.wordpress.com - Unlimited space and bandwidth, features, no monetization.

3. www.livejournal.com - It another popular blog host and has one of the largest number hosted blogs.

4. www.greatestjournal.com - offers podcast, free blogs, 1 gb photo uploads etc

5. www.freevlog.org - It is very good video blog host. The best thing about this host is, it allows you to customize your blog with your own domain.

6. www.busythumbs.com - It is moblog or mobile blog host and allows users to upload stuffs via GPRS enabled mobile phone or via website.

My idea is not to give you a big list of free blog hosts but to give reference of a few well maintained competent blog host which do the work for you. The above six I have mentioned should take care of all your blogging needs. If anyone is new to blogging, it is advisable to start with a free blog from blogger or wordpress to get a taste of it. Later when you gain experience and if you are serious about blogging then you can move your blog to your own domain for more control. You can use Wordpress publishing platform as it is very easy.

If you have news website and would like to show some other form of news, you can do so simply by republishing the feed for such a news website using FeedDigest. No extra working, just use FeedDigest to republish the data on your site. FeedDigest simply takes the feed it received from that site and republishes on your site. Now if you are wondering what is Feed then feed or a web feed is a data format used for providing users with frequently updated content. Also, we may say it is a shortened version of a Web page that has been created for syndication. Feeds usually end in .xml or .rss.

To start with visit www.feeddigest.com

1. Enter the feed URL of a site like http://www.cricketnext.com/xml/cricketnext.xml that uses feeds and click on the green “Click here” button below.

2. On this page enter all the required info and create your account. You even get to select your digest layout and template.

3. Once you are done you will be given various forms of code like php, Java, HTML etc Select the one which best suits you and paste it on your site where you would like the digest to be shown.

4. You can mix and blend multiple feeds and can add upto 6 feeds. Moreover, the service is free.

Thats it! You are done. Check like I have done in one of my other blog under National News. You can do this with any site or blog, not only news which allows feed.

For free feed icons visit:

1. www.feedicons.com

2. www.freeiconsweb.com

There is a lots of buzz around Microblogging and tumblelogging in the web world these days. Sometimes blogging applications like WordPress and Blogger are too much for what you want — they are actually content management systems(CMS). Writing long-form content might not be your goal: perhaps you want to communicate with friends, or share links? Blogging has evolved into a culture of long-form articles. Sometimes all you want to do is put something on the web with the least amount of effort as possible. In the such case microblogging comes into light.

What is Microblogging?

Micro-blogging is a form of blogging that allows users to write brief text updates (usually less than 200 characters) and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user. These messages can be submitted by a variety of means, including text, messaging, instant messaging, email, MP3 or the web.

There are few websites which can help you in this regard as follows:

1. www.jaiku.com

Jaiku was launched to help people share their activities throught the day easily via web, SMS, IM and third party application via API. It also allows web feeds. Last year, Jaiku has been acquired by Google. 

2. www.twitter.com

Twitter is probably the most popular in its own field. In their own words, “Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick questions and answers via IM, SMS and web.

3. www.tumblr.com

It gives subdomain like Jaiku, wheres twitter gives subdirectory. Submission can be via SMS, IM. Also, offers bookmarks for easy submission, RSS etc. One great feature of tumblr is you can run your own custom doamin.

4. www.pownce.com

In their own words, “Pownce is a way to send stuffs to your friends. You can send almost anything like music, photos, videos, files, messages, links and events. You can do all this on their website or you can install their lightweight desktop software that lets you get out of the browser”. Like wordpress or other CMS it also allows to select your theme and personalize your profile.

5. www.facebook.com and www.myspace.com

FaceBook and MySpace also have sections for microblogging where you can share things with your friends and keep in touch.

There are also few other sites which you may like to check. I have not used them so I may not be able to say about them. The websites below are typically placed under tumlelogging.

What is tumblelogging?

A tumblelog (or tlog) is a variation of a blog that favors short-form, mixed-media posts over the longer editorial posts frequently associated with blogging. Common post formats found on tumblelogs include links, photos, quotes, dialogues, and video. Unlike blogs, tumblelogs are frequently used to share the author’s creations, discoveries, or experiences while providing little or no commentary. Most tumblelogs act as compilations for links and online discoveries.

1. http://streem.us/

Easy microblogging or tumblelogging site.

2. www.soup.io

In their own words, ” Soup is an online scrapbook, share tidbits, thoughts, observations and snapshots of your own or collect stuff you find on the web(typically bookmark).

3. www.gelatocms.com

Gelato CMS is open source tumblelog CMS built on Ajax, Php and MySql. This you have to install it on your own website and that way it gives you more control. Mostly for geeks and who want more control over the system.

4. www.jaanix.com

Discover and share site.

5. www.chyrp.net

Open source blog or tumblelog engine.