Blogging

Connecting The Dots

This entry was posted in Blogging Information Internet on by

Yet another tool to to paint a picture of the web.
The Touchgraph Google Browser is one of the cooler ones I’ve seen. Give it a keyword or a URL and presto, well almost presto, it gives you a context mapping based on Google information.
Even more fun, there are tools that let you fine tune your search, add delete sites, change colors, modify groupings, filter stuff, and so on.
You might want to save this to play with at home…..they also have browsers for Amazon and Facebook.
Let me know if you you figure out how to capture an image of the Java display.

Via Asymmetrical Information.

Blogger Pictures Can Suck You In

This entry was posted in Blogging Google Photography Politics on by

Have you checked out the Blogger picture player? It has been around since September but I just ran across it:

Blogger Play will show you a never-ending stream of images that were just uploaded to public Blogger blogs. You can click the image to be taken directly to the blog post it was uploaded to, or click “show info” to see an overlay with the post title, a snippet of the body, and some profile information about the blogger who uploaded it.

Give it a try! Beware, though, some NSFW photos will scroll by:

Blogger Play

I found it pretty absorbing.

How long did you get stuck there the first time?

The 100 Most Informative Blogs

This entry was posted in Blogging on by

You want to stay informed but you do not have time to read every blog and newspaper out there. How can you achieve this?
Some researchers at the Carnegie-Mellon University School of Computer Science have an answer for you!
Mores precisely, their study (PDF here) provides answers to this question:

Which blogs should one read to be most up to date, i.e., to quickly know about important stories that propagate over the blogosphere?

The answer will vary depending on how you ask their model the question, i.e., what criteria you give it. You will, for instance, get a different answers depending how quickly you want to find out about an event or how much time you have to read blogs and posts.
The Top 100 list that making the rounds of the blogosphere now is based on 2006 data and answers this question:

If I can read 100 blogs, which should I read to be most up to date? Unit cost (each blogs costs 1), optimizing population affected (PA, we want to be the first to know with many many people coming in the cascade after us)

The Modulator staff is thrilled to be ranked #7 on this list which we provide in full for your reading pleasure:


  1. Instapundit
  2. Don SurberT
  3. Science & Politics
  4. Watcher of Weasesls
  5. Michelle Malkin
  6. National Journal’s Blogometer
  7. The Modulator
  8. BloggersBlog.com
  9. Boing Boing
  10. Atrios
  11. A Blog for All
  12. Gothamist
  13. mparent777
  14. TFS Magnum
  15. Alliance of Free Blogs
  16. anglican.tk
  17. Micropersuasion
  18. Pajamas Media
  19. BlogHer
  20. MyPetJawa
  21. Reddit
  22. Soccer Dad
  23. Nose on Your Face
  24. aHistorically
  25. The Anchoress
  26. AmericaBlog
  27. SFist
  28. TBogg
  29. HorsePigCow
  30. Why Homeschool
  31. The Daou Report
  32. Sisu
  33. MetaFilter
  34. Megite
  35. LAist
  36. Captain’s Quarters
  37. Shakesville
  38. Guy Kawasaki
  39. Lucy by Lucy
  40. Blue Star Chronicle
  41. Official Google Blog
  42. The Glittering Eye
  43. asterisco.paradigma.pt
  44. Read/WriteWeb
  45. Hullabaloo
  46. The Conservative Cat
  47. Phillyist
  48. The Social Customer Manifesto
  49. The Next Net
  50. Gateway Pundit
  51. Crooks and Liars
  52. Right Wing News
  53. 10,000 Birds
  54. O’Reilly Radar
  55. Cowboy Blog
  56. Business Opportunities Weblog
  57. DCist
  58. Creating Passionate Users
  59. Citizens For Legitimate Government
  60. What About Clients?
  61. Rough Type
  62. The Unofficial Apple Weblog
  63. Dans la cuisine d’Audinette
  64. The London Fog
  65. Bostonist
  66. Seattlest
  67. Austinist
  68. Indian Writing
  69. Power Line
  70. Firedoglake
  71. Blog d’Elisson
  72. Rhymes With Right
  73. Written World
  74. The Jeff Pulver Blog
  75. blog d’eMeRY
  76. Hugh MacLeod’s gapingvoid
  77. Catymology
  78. Hugh Hewitt
  79. Lifehacker
  80. jordoncooper.com
  81. Econbrowser
  82. A Socialite’s Life
  83. Gates of Vienna
  84. NevilleHobson.com
  85. Waxy.org
  86. A Life Restarted
  87. The Volokh Conspiracy
  88. See Also…
  89. Dr. Sanity
  90. Mudville Gazette
  91. www.saysuncle.com
  92. Privacy Digest
  93. Londonist
  94. Shanghaiist
  95. Catholic and Enjoying It
  96. Single Serve Coffee
  97. Jeremy Zawodny’s blog
  98. ScienceBlogs
  99. Basic Thinking Blog
  100. Scobleizer
Check out all these fine blogs. Quite a few of them are posting about this study. The linked Technorati search will give you a much more up to date list than I can maintain here. And, well, I’ve already linked to the top 100…

NB: Many thanks to all the Friday Ark participants in 2006 who, I suspect, played an important role in Modulator’s high ranking.

Resurfacing…or back in muggleworld

This entry was posted in Blogging Harry Potter on by

No spoilers here….
Late June through this early part of August have been the lowest posting 6-8 weeks since Modulator entered the blogosphere….tch, tch.
Reasons abound: heavy work load; quite a bit of family traveling; beginning to plan a new house and, yes, rereading the first 6 years at Hogwarts and Deathly Hallows. I finished the latter today and immediately want to reread it.
The tension between reading slow enough to figure out the clues to the grand scheme of what is going to happen and having needing to read very rapidly to find out what will happen next was delectable!
I chose the latter approach; I could not slow down. I don’t think you will be able to either!
In a few days I will reread the last couple hundred pages and then hand it over to Mrs Modulator.
I do not plan to post any discussion of specifics related to Deathly Hallows for some time. Everyone needs an opportunity to read it spoiler free. Happy, though, to discuss in email.

Posting volume should start rising though it may be some time before I get back up to a 2-3 post/day average.

It’s Time For You to Follow the 20 Commandments

This entry was posted in Blogging on by

Twice the number of the original for your sinning pleasure. Read’m all, chuckle and modify your behavior as appropriate. Examples:

#18 Though ye may tag some Posts as Humour, it is Madness to believe that All will consider it so.
#19These Truths are not set in Stone, but pixelated Dust, and will change as surely as the Tide will ebb and flow and the Multitudes will swoon over another Fit of Hissy by the Paris Hilton of Babylon.

Really, though, don’t sin.

Via Lorelle on WordPress.