How To’s Day: Tech edition

Represent:

That is what Yarn Harlot told me I should do. And so that is what I did.

You: Yes, I have a blog.

Them: What’s a blog?

Then you describe what a blog is and what you write on it etc…

Well, Imagine being in a room full of die hard bloggers, and they discover you write a knitting blog.

Them: WOW what a great niche! I never thought about that before!

Me: Yes, actually there are quite alot of knit-bloggers. In fact as a community they have gotten together and raised  $380,00 for Doctors Without Borders.

Them: It’s that big?

Me:You betcha!

I could totally tell the difference between the ones who knew what knitting without needles was, and those who didn’t too. It was quite interesting to see their reactions to my blog subject matter, and the ‘without needles’ part. Over all though they were all very interested in the knit-blogging ‘niche’ and I think many of them were pleasantly surprised that it even existed!

Passing on what I learned:

Wow there is alot! I selected a few things that you might get some great use out of.

• Microsoft Live Writer:If you don’t like the program you use to make blog posts then you will like Live Writer. It is a free down-loadable program by Microsoft, that allows you to configure and publish your blog entries. It is a pretty user friendly interface which resembles the usual Microsoft word processing programs. The only issue I have had so far is getting the right coding in there to use it with my Movable Type based blog, Loom Out Loud, but that is just my lack of knowledge for what they are asking. It works seamlessly with my WordPress blog, and so I will start working with it all the time I think.
• blurb!: This is a great self publishing company! The books are absolutely beautiful! They say they are book store quality and they mean it! I think that anyone who is looking at self publishing, whether it be a photo book, a cook book or just a book commemorating a special family event, could do much much worse! I think that my favourite photo blogger Ree, at Confessions of a Pioneer Woman, should seriously consider putting together a photo book this way!
• Podango:This is a podcasting site that allows you to publish and host your podcasts for free online. It’s a great option for anyone who is looking to start a podcast, but doesn’t have the storage space to keep it around!
• lijit: This is a great social networking site that pulls all of your networks together in one handy place. You give them your info, and they put it all together. You can then search people or subjects and get a sort of word of mouth experience, rather than depending on a search engine to give you information, you get it straight from the source.. here is how they put it:

  “Using the power of people, their content, and their connections, lijit enhances the way your readers search for and discover information on the Internet. You serve as a filter for all of the results your readers could possibly receive, ensuring they only receive the most relevant results from the source they trust…YOU.

  Just like it works in real life.”    I have put a lijit widgit on my side bar. Check it out have fun and join up. I certainly hope that the Ravelry folks jump on this bandwagon when they go public, now that would be a win win for knit bloggers!

The ones that got away:

• Talkshoe: This looks like an interesting program. Though you can see their booth right behind me in the photo above, I never did get over there to talk to them. This looks quite interesting as a way to do podcast interviews, or discussion groups/ virtual Knitting Groups etc. I will check it out later on and see what it is all about.

• Utterz: This one didn’t get away so to speak, I just never got to talk to them. Along the same lines as talk shoe, this offers users to put out a sujbect and discuss it, through video, audio and text. This is not as real time interactive as Talkshoe, but fun none the less. 

• Snapshots:I wanted to get a little video tutorial on using the features of snapshots but didn’t get to it today. I will soon. I really was impressed with the demo the guy at the booth gave us. Then he said he was just the warehouse guy, and I was doubley impressed! You have seen snapshots if you have been to Isela’s blog. And I have added it to mine. It’s the little pop up that comes up when you clidk on links.. but then again it is a bit more than just a preview. So I will do that tutorial later and let you enjoy the full features!