Online blogging tools that are designed to make things as easy as possible for anyone to publish online have been around at least a decade and, by now, "blogging" is well-established as a popular form of one- or few-to-many publishing. But a new crop of tools aims to make things even easier by enabling individuals to quickly share several types of common content with others.

There isn't an accepted name for this type of content. If Wordpress et al are used for what we traditionally think of as "blogging," and Twitter is "micro-blogging," these new tools represent something in between those two extremes. Because the focus of these platforms is on easy, quick sharing of content with a group of peers or "followers," I've settled on the term "quick blogging."

(Tumblr, refers to its content as a "tumblog," leading to the terms "tumblogging" or "tumble blogging," but that's too product-centric; e.g. "kleenex" vs "tissue.")

Quick blogging tools are characterized by two main features that set them apart from more traditional blogging tools. One is a focus on specific types of content. Instead of every post being a generic entity, with the author responsible for including the necessary media and formatting, quick blogging tools allow you share specific items like quotes, photos, videos, and links. Each type of item is automatically presented in a suitable format for its content type, and it's possible to use type-specific styling in pre-made or custom templates.

Another main feature is the ease and speed in which the platforms allow users to post new items for others to view. In most cases, items can be posted in as little as two clicks—though there are differences in the two main platforms, Tumblr and Posterous, that we examine here. In fact, the differences in sharing options are a sticking point, which may lead you to choose one service over another.

I like posterous better. The conclusion (as said by a tumblr guy) is that posterous is "engineered" while tumblr is "designed." The statement may be apt. Posterous does need to get more bells and whistles.

Just for the record, I've never posted by email to posterous.

Airlock is a system preferences pane. Double-click to install it, associate it with your iPhone or iPod touch, set the security range, and that's it. I tried with my iMac 24 and my iPhone and it worked perfectly. You can even see a radar screen showing the distance between the two devices. The moment I stepped out of the limit, the screen locked. And then, as soon as I came into the perimeter, it unlocked automagically.

I need to try this.

BONG

Sorry, I must amend my post.  Rebecca found it.

What is HotPlug?
With HotPlug, you can move a computer without powering it down!

We created this product for our Government/Forensic customers - but it has IT uses as well. Need to move a server without powering it down? HotPlug can do it.

Bottom line: WiebeTech's HotPlug allows hot seizure and removal of computers from the field to anywhere else on the planet. HotPlug keeps power flowing to the computer while transferring the computer's power input from one A/C source (such as a wall outlet or power strip) to another (a portable UPS) and back again.

Oh don't worry. It's for government seizures of equipment.

With the holidays coming up, you have to really stand out with your cards. My boyfriend gave me a card from Mean Cards, and I was so tickled by them I had to share. The drawings are minimal but full of feelings. Here are some good ones for the season. Show someone you care so much you know they won't be offended by getting a slightly insulting card:

And the one that started it all:

Digg This! • Save to del.icio.us • Email this • Stumble It! • Share on Facebook

Good taste isn't always nice.

BRILLIANT

I wish I could buy Windows 7 on a USB stick. Nice packaging too.

So now we can define covariance, contravariance and invariance. A generic type I<T> is covariant (in T) if construction with reference type arguments preserves the direction of assignment compatibility. It is contravariant (in T) if it reverses the direction of assignment compatibility. And it is invariant if it does neither. And by that, we simply are saying in a concise way that the projection which takes a T and produces I<T> is a covariant/contravariant/invariant projection.

Eric Lippert describes what the real meaning of covariance and contravariance is. That's great and all but I find myself not really caring and just wanting to know what it means in reference to generics. I thought I understood, but maybe not anymore...?

Luckily, at there is an update to the post that explains things in terms of Twilight.

This is a really good idea. I just stumbled upon it while looking a feedly's help section. It starts off small then grows.

If I was going to have a small paid app, I would use this.