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01: Blogging Software

The most important piece of software bloggers use is the software they write in. A lot of people use their blogging platforms built-in tools but that doesn’t allow for offline writing. Any word processor will do, but software like MarsEdit (Mac) or Ecto (Mac/Windows) is specifically designed to integrate with all the major blogging platforms to allow offline editing, direct posting and uploading pictures and files.

02: Digital camera

No fancy DSLR here, a Point and Shoot is what you want. Something small and light they can carry at all times. I current use a dated FujiFilm V10 but newer cameras like the Canon SD850 are a great choice.

03: Flickr Pro account

A blogger will store a lot of photo’s over the life of a blog. Where better to store and share them than Flick. A Pro account will set you back $24.95 for a full year but allow for unlimited uploads, storage, bandwidth and photosets.

04: 1 Year of Webhosting

This can work two ways. First, if the Blogger in your life is using a hosted service like Wordpress.com or Blogger for their blog, then give then the gift of their own server and URL. Two of the most popular webhosts are Dreamhost and Media Temple. Both provide an auto install of different blogging platforms for quick setup. If they already have their own server, then purchasing an addition year from their webhost is a great gift.

05: I’m Blogging This T-Shirt

The “I’m Blogging This” T-shirt (men/women) from Thinkgeek lets the world know they are next to be blogged.

06: Blogging Heroes: Interview with 30 of the World’s Top Bloggers Hardcover

Blogging Heroes is a new book by Micheal A. Banks featuring interviews with some of today;s top bloggers on what sets them apart in the blogging world. Interviews with bloggers from Lifehacker, BoingBoing, Joystiq and many more.

07: ASUS Eee PC

Sometimes you just don’t want to carry your laptop everywhere you go and forget about typing out a blog post on the iPhone. Enter the ASUS Eee PC. A 7″ ultraportable laptop weighing just under two pounds. Its comes with Linux installed but includes drivers for Windows XP. If your adventous enough, you can try installing Mac OS X on it also.

08: Timbuk2 blogger bag

The on-the-go blogger is going need something to carry their laptop and other goodies in. What better bag than the Timbuk2 Blogger. Its a vertical computer bag with a padded compartment for a laptop. Its waterproof and quite roomy.

09: Blub to turn blog into a book

Blurb allows you to transform blog entries into either a 22 page softcover book for $12.95 or a 40 page hardcover book for $22.95. It supports all the major blogging platforms including Blogger, Tylepad, Wordpress and Livejournal.

10: 3G Card USBConnect 881

Having always on, everywhere access is still a few years away but for now AT&T’s USBConect 881 3G card hits the spot. Its fast and portable so no matter if your lugging your Macbook Pro around or just decided to toss the Asus Eee PC in your pocket, you will always have a fast internet connection with you wherever you go.

11: RSS reader

While there are some great online RSS readers, the ability to read RSS feeds offline plus OS and application integration is perfect for productivity. My two favorite standalone programs are from Newsgator, FeedDemon for Windows and NetNewsWire for Mac both which sync to Newsgator’s free online RSS reader.

Jott is one of my favorite new services this year. Dial a 1-800 number, say who I want to Jott to and speak. In a few minutes my voice is translated into any number of web services Jott supports. Today they added support for Google Calendar so now I can create appointments when I’m on the run by just dialing a number and speaking. Saying “Steve Job’s Macworld Keynote at 9 am on January 15th” is a lot easier than logging into Google Calendar and typing that all out on my iPhone. Thanks to Jott I can now blog, tweet, add a todo and create an appointment without typing a word. Best of all Jott is free.

Simple Comic 1.7 build 0167 beta now has a bundled Quicklook plugin for both digital comic CBZ and CBR files built in. Simple Comic is currently at version 1.6.1 on their webpage but if you go into the Preferences and click on the Beta Update Feed option under Advanced > Updates, you will be presented with the option to update to 1.7 the next time you launch the app. Once you install Simple Comic 1.7 beta, restart you Mac and you will now notice all CBZ/CBR files now have thumbnails and you can view them using Quicklook. While in Coverflow view, you will now be able to flip through pages without opening up the file too.

Nullriver’s Connect360 was just updated to version 3.2 adding support for Divx and Xvid files. Connect360 allows Mac users to stream Music, Video and Photos to a Xbox360. You will need to have the Fall 2007 Dashboard update installed on your Xbox360 but once you do, you will be able to stream Divx and Xvid encoded AVI files directly to your TV (finally!). The program costs $20 but they offer a trial version on their webpage.

Timbuk2 recently contacted me about using one of my photos for a redesign of their webpage. Of course I said yes as I love my Timbuk2 bag. Well today is the day they launched the new website and my picture is part of the header for the laptop section.

Check it out.

They also gave me a $125 gift card for using my picture and I made waste to that on a new Commute bag and a Monroe Wallet in a matter of minutes. I love my Blogger but hoping the Commute will be a little smaller. I do like the fact it has a place for water bottles on the outside. I’ve also given up on Jimi wallets as they keep breaking on me so I’m going to try my luck with a wallet from Timbuk2.