Ref Tech Rob

For those of you who are interested in web-based word processing, Writely is now accepting new registrations. It will take me a while to see if there are any new features and to explore its capabilities, but I will post again if I find anything newsworthy.

Now I'm really starting to get annoyed. I have not been able to put my AdSense ads back on my blog. Now I know that this doesn't particularly bother the rest of you--I mean, who really wants to see the ads on my blog, anyway? It just detracts from the high quality content, right? But that's just my point! I have all of this great stuff on my blog today, but I won't get a red cent--in spite of the millions of people who are reading this blog right now! There's nothing to click. How are the people going to know that Google provides blogs through Blogger if there are no links to click? How can the economy survive if Madison Avenue can't reach the consumer hoards through my high quality blog? I'm not sure I can handle all of this stress. I need a drink.

I am writing this post using Windows Live Writer (Beta). The interface is simple and fairly intuitive. I can change the font if I want to. I can insert links, pictures and a Microsoft Virtual Earth Map: Image would have been here. Now, the big question for me is, how well does it publish the post? Here goes nothing. Well, I was informed by the program that my weblog won't publish images. As you can see in other entries, this is not true. Well, let's try again without the map image. Again, nothing. Well, I am now cutting and pasting this entry directly into Blogger. So much for my first test of Windows Live Writer (Beta). In all fairness, I must point out that I have just upgraded to Blogger beta, so it may be a few days before I figure out where the glitch is. Better luck next time, I suppose.

I upgraded the blog to the new Blogger beta format. In the process, I lost a couple of feed buttons and my WorldCat search box, but I like the look of the blog, the atom feed at the bottom, and the ability to tag blog entries. I also have the option to modify the layout without hand coding the template--I can use the mouse to drag sections around, create new ones, or edit the labels. I'll let you all know how it goes from here.

Google has added a link to their Spreadsheets and another one to bring up additional services at the top left hand corner of their GMail and Calendar pages. I hadn't even looked at the spreadsheet service since I tried it out once during the early testing phase. There were some problems with rendering at the time which seem to have been corrected since then.

I have added a search box for WorldCat.org's new web search service. Check it out today.