New Software Judges Blog Credibility

Books, blogs popular in recession

(NEWSER) - What with the recession, worldwide poverty, and impending environmental doom, it’s no wonder that bookshelves and the blogosphere are crammed with tales of voluntary privation and experiments in skimp. Last month there was On a Dollar a Day, about a couple's attempt to live on that amount—in San Diego. Last year, it was No Impact Man, and the web abounds with other examples. “It's like everyone is doing their own version of Lent,” a serial experimenter tells Time . More»

Blogger ponders path Web surfers take to his threshold

(NEWSER) - Freud would have a field day studying Google searches, posits a blogger who tracked the terms visitors to his web page used and found a window into man's pathologies. John Kelly, a columnist on leave from the Washington Post, writes in the Guardian about "how the fetishes, pathologies and strange obsessions of humankind are catalogued every day on the world wide web." More»

Proposal to unionize provokes (surprise!) mixed reactions from online community

(NEWSER) - Some liberal bloggers are attempting to rally their keyboard-hammering brethren and form the first bloggers' union, an organization whose exact configuration is unclear. Some envision the group as a traditional labor faction that would fight for health benefits and recognition within the media, the AP reports, while others want a looser group of like-minded writers. More»

With big day tomorrow, Bloggers ponder their clout with Dems

(NEWSER) - Bloggers contemplating the off-again, on-again appearance of Hillary Clinton at tomorrow's YearlyKos convention can't quite get over how much more respect—would fear be an exaggeration?—they're inspiring in Democrats this year, compared to the last go-round. Joe Gandelman at the Moderate Voice asks whether it means the Democratic center really has “swung to the left.” More»

PC World finds the funniest, most informative, and most esoteric sites

(NEWSER) - PC World chooses the best blogs in 10 categories:

1. Technology News: Slashdot (slashdot.org)
2. Specialty Tech Site: John Battele's Searchblog (battellemedia.com)
3. Company Watcher: Microsoft Watch (microsoft-watch.com)
4. Corporate Blog: The Official Google Blog (googleblog.blogspot.com)
5. Politics and Business: Policybeta (blog.cdt.org)