Reading a recent Frank Barnako column about BaseballBlogs.org (‘All Baseball, All Blogs, All the Time’) who reported that the Chicago Cubs (87) have more coverage than any other team made me wonder if India’s blogosphere had cricket blogs and Bollywood blogs. No, I don’t intend to look because I’m on my way of being thoroughly bored with both these subjects of desire and longing for Indians.

Incidentally, the second most popular baseball team is the Boston Red Sox (76) followed by   the New York Mets (54). The least blog-covered team, according to BaseballBlogs.org, is the Florida Marlins with a pittance of five weblogs. Barnako also informs me that Ken Leebow, the Atlanta-based publisher of Blogging about Incredible Blogs http://bloggingaboutblogs.blogspot.com/2005/04/blogosphere-cnn-fox.html, has this astute observation on the blogosphere: "Sometimes the blog world reminds me of cable news. Everyone's blabbing about the same thing." Leebow feels blogs ought to be “more analytical, opinionated, and provocative”. Also of current interest is CNet’s comparison of the two topmost blogging services, Six Apart Inc.'s Typepad ($4.95 a month) and Google's Blogger (free). TypePad is the winner, it looks like. "It provides the services we'd like to see offered within Blogger, such as mixed media templates, built-in photo uploading and guest accounts."

Do read the blog software review here: http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6028_7-6040346-1.html?tag=rpromo. Last but not the least, there’s a not-to-be-missed white paper written to persuade corporates that "blogging is not a passing fad ... but any brand, business or organization that fails to grasp [that] fact may very well be." http://www.intelliseek.com/whitepapers.asp. Corporate blogging was last covered in QuiteATake.com here: http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1258507,00030007.htm

(‘CORPORATE BLOGGING. Questions and answers.’)

MOVE OVER, DRUDGE. Sploid’s here.

“Matt Drudge has owned the online news/gossip/investigative reporting/scaremongering Web space for almost 10 years,” writes Frank Barnako as a prelude to telling us that competition’s on the horizon in the shape of blog publisher Nick Denton’s Sploid.com, a tabloid Web site for breaking news with attitude. "Sploid is a news site with a tabloid mentality – top stories up top, played big, as fast as they break. If there's a political line, it's anarcho-capitalist – sniffing out hypocrisy and absurdity, whether from salon left or religious right." (He quotes this statement of intent from an e-mail from Denton.) “Denton publishes several other blogs, including Gawker, Defamer and Wonkette. He's been credited with having a great eye for writing talent and an easy managerial hand.” For Sploid, he's lined up Gawker's original editor, Choire Sicha, and two freelancers, Ken Layne and Henry Seltzer” "We want to occupy the space between the whiny left and the ranting right," Denton told Observer.com. "Drudge is very good. It will probably take us 10 years to catch up with his level of traffic. We'll have 1,000th of the traffic, at least to begin with." http://barnako.typepad.com/barnakocom/.

BOOM TIME. MSN Spaces and MSN Messenger.

Ever since its soft release on December 1, 2004, MSN Spaces – officially launched last week – claimed to already have 4.5 million blogs have been set up with fewer than 4% (nearly 170,000) updated daily, reports the Seattle Times. Spaces has advertising as well, with Volvo as its first customer – putting banner ads and sponsoring a "best of" page, inviting people to write about experiences with their automobiles.

Also, MSN Messenger, its newest instant-messaging and Web-logging software, shifted into high gear as it was moved out of the beta mode. MSN Messenger will be a boon for inexpensive home video conferencing because users with computer microphones can talk with each other over the Internet and users with Webcams can even see full-screen video of each other while talking. “Video chatting has just become this ready-for-prime-time thing. It's changing my life in a big way,” remarked Blake Irving, MSN VP, after using the service.http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002233597_msn07.html. P.S.: Looks like the very first advertiser on MSN Messenger is Coca Cola Co.'s Sprite with downloads of ‘theme packs’. These include animations and backgrounds as well as audio clips. American Greetings too plan to sell icons for personalizing messages. "It's just a way for people to express themselves. It's advertising but it doesn't feel that way,"said Blake Irving to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

PODCASTING’S LATEST CONVERTS. Guess who?

As diverse as they seem, Newsweek, Paris Hilton and Peterson's educational service are the new online culture’s latest converts. Around 6 million U.S. adults have downloaded podcasts according to a recent Pew Internet & American Life Project study. Research found that 29% of the owners (13% of U.S. men and 9% of women; almost 20% of 18- to 28-year-olds) of portable MP3 players have subscribed to the shows.

These downloaded audio programs can be played on portable media devices like an iPod. Coming back to the new shows, Newsweek On Air – posted Mondays at MSNBC.com – can be downloaded   here. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7078547/site/newsweek. The Paris Hilton Podcast, beginning April 29 to promote the socialite-actress's new film, "House of Wax", will have her talking about her shopping trips and press events up to the premiere on May 6, says Hollywood Reporter. http://www.houseofwaxmovie.com/. Finally, Peterson's tips on “acing the college entrance exams and navigating the admissions process” can be downloaded at http://petersons.com/podcasts/. P.S.: Adam Curry’s podcast directory at iPodder.org lists 4,493 podcasts as of now. “Podcasts, or audio programs delivered through the Internet for playback on portable devices, of weekly sales meetings are one application”, by the way. A respondent to a media industry analyst’s query about the points to include in his article in progress on podcasting put it as follows: "The ROI is clear – you free up one hour of every sales rep's calendar each week and let them listen to the call at their convenience."

POPECAST, POPEBLOG. Holy Father gone mod?

“You will hear how the bells of Rome announce the death of the pope, and I will take you to Saint Peter's Square, where we will experience the emotions of the crowd gathered there in prayer and grief," Father Roderick Vonhögen, a priest of the Archdiocese of Utrecht, the Netherlands, said in a recent podcast. He produces Catholic Insider, "Podcasting from the heart of the Catholic Church", as the CatholicInsider.com Web site puts it. Then there’s The Pope Weblog http://thepopeblog.blogspot.com/ – "a sober, concise and frequently updated guide to events in and around the Vatican", in the opinion of Guardian Unlimited. It has featured on Beliefnet http://www.beliefnet.com/story/151/story_15149_1.html as one of "the coolest, most interesting faith-based weblogs".

BARCODES & COOKIES. What do they’ve in common?

Plenty – if you take the verdict of Behavioral Insider, 8 April 2005. Both make life easier for the consumer and the device user. http://www.mediapost.com/dtls_dsp_BehaviorialInsider.cfm?fnl=050408.