Blog Update

Three permanent additions to my blog:

1) I've added a status bar to the top. Nothing fancy, just some text above my posts to let you know what I've added.

I'm adding this because of my infrequent updates. As is typical, I might go two weeks without posting anything new. Then, when I sit down and write a lot, posts might get pushed down too low to notice.

Now, one quick visit to briancopeland.blogspot.com will inform you as to how new material has arrived.

This shouldn't be displayed to readers using my RSS feed, as you are already aware of how much I've updated.

2) I'm using Twitter. Twitter is the new rising star on the internet. Instead of writing long blog posts, internet users are "Tweeting," or writing a 140 character (or less) message and publishing it on their Twitter account. This is nearly the same as what other websites call "status," but the twitter posts (called "tweets") could be anything. They call it "microblogging," and it is much easier than regular blogging.

I'm using http://ping.fm/ to publish my Twitter'ing everywhere. Thus, if you follow me on Twitter, you'll see the same thing as my status listed on the right side of my blog. This will be the same as my MySpace profile and my Facebook status (to find me, search for cope0053@d.umn.edu).

3) Around the Internet is finalized. If you haven't noticed this section of my website, it is on the right hand side under my Status. It's basically displaying my Shared Items from Google Reader. So, if you aren't visiting my website, you could certainly subscribe to my Shared Items to see what links I've thought were cool. I usually include a description of the link through the Shared Items feed.