Blogs, vlogs, and moblogs

As the The New York Times indicated blogging (online text journals) are expanding, and now there are video blogs, or vlogs, which incorporate moving images, and camera cell phones are being used to create mobile blogs, or moblogs.

As the article indicated, Some vloggers are further blurring the lines between journalism and blogging by producing news reports of local interest. Steve Garfield of Boston, a self-described citizen reporter, took a video camera to investigate, among other things, whether election campaign workers were following the law by staying 150 feet from polling stations. He posted his report here.

Warning: I tried viewing his video, and my computer locked up. I suspect it is a conflict between Real Player and something else on my system, so it will probably work for you, but just to be safe make sure to save any open documents before you try it.

As the article indicated Dozens of free Web-based services, including Blogger.com (owned by Google and host of this blog), Microsoft's MSN Spaces, LiveJournal.com and Blog-City.com, enable people to create a blog within minutes.

Most free services provide only basic features, like posting text, and limit the photos, audio and video that users can upload. But these sites typically offer premium services for $2.50 to $5 a month that provide far richer features.