Helpful personal productivity tools and add-ons from Jack Vinson. There’s several here I already use and some others that sound quite useful.

Some other tools in my space

I wrote a few days ago about my PKM System, where I focused on email and file management, and I discussed some of the flow of my work. There are some other tools in my suite that help me with the flow of my work: anagram, BlogJet, Movable Type, MindManager, Outclass, AddEmailAddress, Firefox, AdAware, SmartList to Go, Flickr, Skype and emacs. Details below the fold. [...More]

Glen Mohr:

• I love that I can add bullets on the fly without having to type in HTML tags
• I love that I can add color on the fly without having to know that blue is #0000ff
• I love that I can switch between blogs from a drop down
• I love that I can choose multiple categories by checking them off in a list
• I love that I now don’t have to use Internet Explorer to post to my Movable Type blogs since the formatting buttons don’t show up in Firefox
• I love that when I embed a link in a post I can choose whether it should open in the same window or a new window without having to code target=_

Blah blah blah:

“BlogJet…  this is really cool! finally the ability to blog on a plane. bring it on! ”

Comments:

• “Well, cool as long as you're not the pilot.”
• “What is blogjet? Is this an actual service provided by airlines?”

secretGeek:

There's always a way to include a screen shot, and it's the first thing that people are looking for. Once they've seen your product, then they'll have a place in their mind to store the facts and figures, the features and the detail. They'll have questions, too, and hopefully the writing will answer their questions.

Check out the front page for blogjet. That's better. A screenshot. And best yet -- the screen shot takes you to more screenshots. I feel like I know that product now. And if you know a product, well, you start to care about it. It's not just vapour.

That’s because I always liked screenshots and I’m proud of the BlogJet’s interface

By the way, if you ever wondered who is this girl on the screenshot and why she’s not included in BlogJet’s distribution  – this is my girlfriend Tanya.

Doug Tygar:

The html generated by BlogJet is far more robust than HTML generated by Blogger. It also has a very clean toolbar (although I wish I could add an auto “blockquote” button.)

Yes, Doug, I want this button too. Advanced toolbar is what I’m going to implement in the future versions.

Did you know that if your blogging service supports* extended entries via API, you can separate extended content from normal one? Just click Format > Extended Entry

*) Including: WordPress, Movable Type, TypePad…

Seth Godin:

Many in the flak community are trying to turn blogs into just another media outlet. They're not. Instead, they are a terrific home for the remarkable. Make stuff worth talking about first. Then talk about it.

Micro Persuasion – Google to Host Vlogs?:

"It's an experiment we want to run," said Page of the video-uploading service, which he said the company will formally announce "in the next few days." Page made the non-announcement announcement during Monday's opening panel discussion at the National Cable & Telecommunications Show here, upstaging his luminary fellow panelists John Chambers of Cisco, Brian Roberts of Comcast, Jon Miller of AOL and Jeffrey Katzenberg of Dreamworks.

By the way, if you want to post a video to your blog via BlogJet, just click Tools > Attach File, select the video file:

and it will be attached to your post.

Michael Hyatt wrote an article on How to Start a Blog. My favorite part? Of course #5:

Consider using an offline blogging client. This isn’t a necessity but it will make blogging much easier. An offline blogging client is like a word processor for blogging. It enables you to write when you’re not online and then upload your post when you connect to the Internet. The two most popular are BlogJet and ecto (yes, the lowercase “e” is part of the branding).

Thanks, Michael!

We now have Family Pack license available (up to 5 family members) for purchasing. It's only $69.95 - cheaper than 2 copies.

Also, for those of you who already bought a single copy, an upgrade to the Family Pack is available for $49.95 until April 30, 2005. Use this link: http://blogjet.com/order/familyupg/

In yesterday’s post I’ve cited the short review of BlogJet from The Great Software List, which contained the comparison with ecto – another blog client available for PC and Mac. Someone might think that I did this to make a bad PR for my competitors. No. No way.

Let me cite Guy Kawasaki (Selling The Dream book):

There are two types of enemies: conceptual and tactical…

When I was sa president of ACIUS, our tactical enemy in the Macintosh database market was Fox Software. Both companies, however, shared a conceptual enemy: ignorance among people that Macintoshes can manage databases.

The problem for ACIUS and Fox Software was not achieving greater market share but expanding the market size. In this kind of situation, tactical enemies have to stop fighting each other and fight the conceptual enemy. For example, ACIUS and Fox Software could have jointly sponsored Macintosh database seminars to show people how Macintosh databases can improve their productivity. Then, when the pie was bigger, ACIUS and Fox Software could have focused on market share.

So instead of fighting each other, we want every blogger to know that she can improve her blogging productivity by using a blog client.

That’s why I joined with Yiyi Sun, author of another blog client – WB Editor, to create BlogClients.Info –  a wiki where any developer can write about her blog client, share information on blogging APIs, etc. (Are you a blog client dev? Go ahead and let others know about it!)

That’s why I want you to choose the best blog client for your needs. I’ll be happy if you choose BlogJet, and I’ll be happy even if you choose ecto, w.bloggar, WB Editor or any other – at least, I’ll know that you use a blog client and you understand how it improves your blogging experience.

Finally, if you use a blog client, tell your friends about it!

BlogJet appeared in The Great Software List:

Prompt. Although it's a simple tool for posting and managing blog entries, BlogJet is not intended to have all features for all people. It does a few things well: integrate with existing blog services; post photos; and allow blog entries to be posted quickly with minimal effort. The reason the price is $40 rather than ecto's $18 is that it works more efficiently with fewer steps to accurately complete a post. BlogJet integrates with Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox browsers; FeedDemon, RSS Bandit, NewsGator, and other news aggregators using Blog This! to enable you easily blog about the current web page or news items. If you're an everyday blogger, then you need this tool.