Now, Apple has released its latest state-of-the-art MacBooks and MacBook Pros where creating and publishing your blog is made possible with just one click on your computer, no third party platforms like WordPress needed. This can only be good news for all bloggers. It can only mean that the world’s biggest manufacturers now recognize that blogging is a way of life and that bloggers are a captive market that should not be ignored. Therefore, more and more tech products will be offered in the future that will incorporate blogging or blogging-related functions.

Although our lust for the new MacBooks will be discussed in another article, allow me to give our readers a preview of the blogging applications available in the latest line-up of Mac notebooks. It is the first computer we know to offer this feature, and podcasting too! Apple makes a big deal out of it by putting a blurb in its official website heralding its new products as “the superfast, blogging, podcasting, do- everything-out-of-the-box MacBook.”

To publish on the web via the MacBook, sign up for an account with (dot) Mac, then click on the iWeb option on iLife. The latter is a suite of applications meant to harness your creativity in the digital sphere. With iWeb, you can choose from a set of ready-made templates for your blog, Add Entry then Post. That’s as easy as 1-2-3. If you have an existing blog on Blogger or WP, for instance, your files can be exported to these publishing platforms with a little tweaking.

We were also impressed with how easy it is to create a podcast with the MacBook. These wonder notebooks  have built-in video camera and mic which makes it perfect for easily sharing your audio and video files on the Web. Podcasting is made possible with the GarageBand  software, also on iLife. It is so awash with features that a blogger would feel it’s like having your own radio station at home. Your recorded vocal track can be dressed up to the hilt with GarageBand’s library of more than 200 “podcast sounds.” These include sound effects and jingles which you can add during post-production or the live recording itself.

Furthermore, Garage band acts as a true-blue radio engineer so one’s podcast will sound as professional as it should. “A built-in Speech Enhancer optimizes sound for your Mac, gender, and vocal range, improving the sound of your voice and simulating a professional microphone, even when you’re not using one. And a dynamic “ducking” effect automatically reduces music volume when you speak, so your listeners always hear the talk above the tunes,” the Apple website states.

When you have finished recording your podcast, you can send it to iWeb, click on “Publish” and it’s ready for online airing. You can even submit your podcast to the iTunes Music Store for an even greater audience.

The only problem is that not everyone has a MacBook or can afford one, unless Apple suddenly starts offering discounts to bloggers as a marketing tool or come-on. Long shot. What we would  like to see is for the Windows-based PCs  to also adopt Apple’s brilliancy and install one-click blogging integration on their computers. When that happens, bloggers would have wider options and what a beautiful world this would be.

ONLINE CONTENT CREATORS GROWING

 In another development, allow us to share some enlightening results of the “Home Broadband Adoption 2006” survey contained in the Pew Internet & American Life Project dated May 28, 2006.

Here are salient points of the report aimed to track down broadband and internet usage in American households during a given period last year:

  Overall, 35% of all internet users have posted content to the internet. Specifically, we asked about four types of online content: having one's own blog; having one's own webpage; working on a blog or webpage for work or a group; or sharing selfcreated content such as a story, artwork, or video.

  An even higher percentage of home broadband users - 42% or about 31 million people - have posted content to the internet. They account for 73% of home internet users who were the source of online content.

  Having a fast, always-on internet connection at home is associated with users' posting content to the internet and thereby shaping the environment of cyberspace.

  Although home dial-up internet users get involved in putting content online, they do not do so at the same rate as broadband users. Just 27% of dial-up users, or about 13 million adults, have placed some sort content online.

  Sharing a variety of creations online is among the most popular kinds of user-generated content. Overall, 36 million internet users have shared their own artwork, photos, stories, or videos on the internet. That comes to 26% of internet users. Home broadband users account for about two-thirds of this number.

  Home is not the only place from which people upload content. Among the 11% of online Americans with access only at work or some place other than work or home (such as a library), 21% have posted some content to the internet. That comes to 5 million people.

(For comments and inquiries, email annalyn.jusay@gmail.com)