Why use Blogger

There are many possible blog services available in the internet. For example Vuodatus, Blogit and Blogger's perhaps toughest challenger Wordpress are commonly used. In this post I would like to tell a bit about why I like Blogger. Unfortunately I'm unable to compare Blogger and Wordpress, as I've never used Wordpress. However I've seen many beautiful webpages and blogs created with it and I'm actually quite keen to try it someday.

I read many blogs that have to do with my interests and hobbies. I'm also a frequent blog writer (other that this blog ;). When I started my own blog, I wanted a blog that would not contain big advertisements, would be simple to use and had password protection. Unfortunately I did not find any service that would have all those features. Vuodatus had too big advertisements, Wordpress seemed too complicated to start and Blogger had not password protection. I decided to choose Blogger, because even though it does not have password protection, you can invite people to read your blog by their Google accounts. Nowadays most people do have (at least one) Google account, so that would not cause too much trouble. Also it seemed simple that I would use my blog with my Google account that I already had.

In Blogger I like that you can add many different widgets to your blog. Some that I use most are:

1. Archive
   Here you can see all posts that have been written. You can decide how much you want to show from each post in the list, what order they are etc. For example in this course I think it is very good if a blog has all topics of the posts listed, so people can scroll and see what others have written.
   


2. Labels
   Here you can see all labels that have been marked in the posts. In this Groupare course it is very useful, since people can quickly see in each blog what have people written about.


3. Blog list
   In this widget you can list all of your favourite blogs. The widget updates regularly and when you go to your own blog you can always see which blogs have been updated. This is very handy as you don't have go to each blog separately to see if there are new posts.
   


4. Previous comments
   This widget lists the newest comments that have been written in your blog. You don't have to spam your mail box with all new comments, when you can see them from your own blog no matter in which posts the comments are.


5. HTML, picture, text etc.
   In these simple widgets you can write your own HTML-code, upload pictures or write plain text. Very good to introduce yourself and write a bit about your blog.

I don't know if other blog services have similar features or not, but so far I've been very satisfied with Blogger. Maybe someday I will switch to Wordpress just out of curiosity.

Top Online Collaboration Tools for Students

With the advent of social web and Internet perse, there is great opportunity for collaboration. When it comes to education, collaboration is key to learning. Working in a team/group today, you don't have to be physically present. There are various tools and services which can help you collaborate online with your group members or team mates.

In this post we will cover some great free tools for connecting, collaborating and sharing with others.These tools will help you with online conferencing, file sharing, collaborative writing and editing, private communication and desktop sharing.

1. Keep and Share

Keep and share allows you to have a calendar, word processor, file storage, photosharing and to-do list at one single place. It also allows you to share all the above tools with a group at the same time ensuring who see what and set exclusive permission for editing.

2. Spicebird

Spicebird provides integrated email, calendaring and instant messaging with intuitive user interface. It runs on Windows and Linux and can connect to any standards based email and calendar servers that support IMAP, POP.

3. Dropbox

Dropbox is a state of art sharing service which keeps all your stuff on the cloud and allows you to access them from anywhere using almost all sorts of devices and operating systems.

Following are some of the features of dropbox:

• Sync: Dropbox allows you to sync your files online and across your computers automatically.
• File Sharing: Allows simple file sharing with one click. Shared folders allow several people to collaborate on the same files.
• Online Backup: It backs up your file on the cloud and gives you a piece of mind
• Multiple device support: You can install and use dropbox using various devices, like PC, Mac, Linux or even mobile phones.

4. Google Docs

Google offers a complete office suit which is free for personal use. Google docs include:

• Document


• Spreadsheet


• Presentation


• Form creator


• Drawing
  

Sharing and collaboration using Google docs is very intuitive and easy for all levels of users.

5. MindMeister

MindMeister is an online mind mapping service which is free of cost and allows your to share and collaborate mind map creating and brainstorming. It offers real time brainstorming.

There are many more but these are the most popular collection of tools and software for online collaboration and sharing.