TDH: Portfolio » BloggerTalks

BloggerTalks Under New Management

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:55:57 +0000

One of my first sites in English was the interview blog BloggerTalks. I started it because I was genuinely interested in what successful bloggers and entrepreneurs in the blogosphere had to say about obvious things, like how they got successful, and whatever was in the loop at the moment. I’m proud to say that I think there is some top notch interviews that everyone should read over at BloggerTalks. Just browse the interview archives and see for yourself.

However, during the last year or so, I just haven’t been able to keep up the weekly updating schedule I had planned. I’ve been offered a lot of help, and I’d like to give Tony Hung especially a big thank you, for being there early on.

The plain fact is that I just can’t make BloggerTalks as good as I want it to be, and I don’t want to let it drift off into nothingness, with an interview every month or so.

Better sell it. So I did, to the owners of The Blog Herald, which I’m the editor of. I’m certain that Splashpress Media can make something bigger and better out of BloggerTalks, building upon the foundation of a site that, I can honestly say, is quite good.

While I’m at it, I also sold Live Arcade Review. I just couldn’t lift it back to a decent updating schedule, so better someone else managing it. Splashpress Media picked it up too, and they have already made sure that the excellent Mega Man 9 got reviewed. I’m happy to see it living and breathing again, if a game blog can do that.

So what’s left in English? Well, me and Rickard are still doing some updates to the Age of Conan blog Living Hyboria, and then there’s this site, but that’s about it. That works perfectly well for me right now, since I’ve got enough freelance writing gigs to keep me occompanied.

A big thank you to all the readers these past years! It’s been a blast.

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Freelance Friday: My Writing Week 36

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:00:13 +0000

Another Friday, and I’m not behind my desk this week either. This time it is the end of the fiscal year of my company, so I’m needed at HQ for number crunching (not really, it is already done) and budgeting for the next year. Fun stuff. Anyway, here’s the highlight of this week’s freelance writing.

Camino’s Mike Pinkerton Working on Mac Version of Google Chrome
More Google Chrome coverage, this time on the Mac version, on The Blog Herald
Google Chrome: Initial Reports Round-up
Round-up on the Google Chrome coverage, on The Blog Herald
Maybe it is Time for a Super Premium Version of Akismet?
Editorial on Akismet and comment spam, on The Blog Herald
Captions Coming to YouTube
Feature story on subtitling on YouTube, on The Blog Herald
Finding Harmony Between Categories and Tags on Blogs
On how to use categories and tags on blogs, on Devlounge
How to Create a Mobile Site with MoFuse
A tutorial about just that, over at Nettuts

Also, don’t forget the interview with Collis Ta’eed over at BloggerTalks. We’re talking about the Envato network, paid content, their new theme marketplace, and branding, so you should definitely read it.

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Freelance Friday: My Writing Week 34

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:00:17 +0000

It has been a quiet freelancing week for me. Not because I haven’t written any posts, no, rather, I’ve been focused on editing new contributor’s work and getting them into the groove, as well as written my fair share of news posts, rather than longer stuff. As you probably know by now, I only feature posts that I feel is a little meatier here on Freelance Friday, so the list is short this week. Nevertheless, here it is!

12seconds.tv Release API, I’m Still Not Convinced
Post on the 12seconds.tv API, and some thoughts on the service, on The Blog Herald
Twitter Turns Up the Heat On Spam, Hires People
Analysis of Twitter spam fighting tactics, on The Blog Herald
Newsletters on Blogs, Annoying or Open-minded?
A post on RSS and e-mail subscriptions on The Blog Herald
The Cloud + The Netbook = A Blogger’s Best Friend?
Editorial piece on netbooks and the cloud over at The Blog Herald
Site is Down, Reddit Style
A short reflection on “site currently offline” pages on Devlounge

I also did an interview with Ryan Caldwell of Performancing fame over at BloggerTalks. Not exactly freelancing, but you should read it anyway.

Don’t forget to stalk me for more goodness. Expect another part in The Green Knight short story this weekend, by the way. Have a great weekend!

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Project Status Report for July 2008: The Inaugural One

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:00:00 +0000

Since I get a few questions every now and then as to my own projects and how they are faring, I figured I’d try something new, at least for me. You see, I’m a pretty private person, and I rarely want to talk about how I’m doing, especially when I’m doing good or great. Boasting is a bad thing where I come from, and sometimes this is holding me back. In short, I don’t like to pat myself on the back.

However, given the amount of e-mail I’m getting (not overwhelming, just enough for me to consider as a “problem”, for lack of better word), there is some interest as to what I’m up to, so I figured I’d try and do monthly status reports for a while, see how it fits. I might also work as a spur for me, something I’ve tried before with the OrnTales.com project, now a part of this very site.

So this is the first status report, tackling July 2008, even though there are a few days left. I doubt everything will change in that time, but if it does, I’ll let you know for sure.

I’m keeping client work out of this, being design gigs and freelance writing. While those are projects too, at times, they are not my projects per se, and this is not the place to talk about them.

The tdhedengren network

As you can see at the top of the page, the tdhedengren network consists of my blog, the interview blog BloggerTalks, and Living Hyboria, being a blog dedicated to the MMORPG Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. Truth be told, only my blog and BloggerTalks are up and running for real, while Living Hyboria is trudging along while waiting for me to roll out a design and organize it a bit. There is also a fourth site involved, being Live Arcade Review which is dedicated to reviewing Xbox Live Arcade (ie. downloadable) games. This one’s been around for some time, but have been on hold until now. Or rather, that was the plan, but my Xbox 360 got RROD’d, so the relaunch will have to wait a bit longer.

BloggerTalks is doing great, although I’m taking a bit easy with the interviews over the summer. The frequency at least, because the likes of Natali Del Conte and Duncan Riley are no small fish. I’m happy with it, it keeps pushing out great content, if I may say so myself, and that was the goal.

The very site you’re reading, tdhedengren.com, is working out as well. There is still work to be done, especially with the pretty important portfolio, and I’m hoping to get that up to date in a few weeks time.

My Fiction Writing

While the blog projects are easy enough to talk about, my fiction is perhaps not. I have put it all here, under one roof, as a part of the relaunch of this site, but also to give myself some more room. July has not been a month full of writing for me, however, although I have polished my plans for Orn, got some new ideas that might or might not end up as one or several short stories in the autumn, and so on. I did get the first part of The Green Knight short story published, that’s something at least. Expect more in this story on a weekly basis in August, probably on Fridays or Saturdays, I haven’t completely decided on the schedule yet. The story is more or less done, however, so I’ll be wrapping it up in the coming week so that I can focus on other things.

Other Projects

I have some Swedish projects running, such as the former blog network turned super-group-blog Pakten, but they are all laying low over the summer months, not much to mention there.

There is a slightly larger project as well, but as I haven’t announced it at all yet I’ll just keep quiet. It’s been in the works since the last version of tdhedengren.com, and I expect to unveil it late August or in September, depending on things yet to be determined. Needless to say, I’m excited about it.

That’s July 2008 for you. I hope the insight will help in some way, perhaps inspire your somewhat, or just cure your curiosity.

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Scheduled Downtime: Moving Servers (done!)

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Mon, 26 May 2008 11:23:30 +0000

I’m moving servers at the moment, which is one reason why it’s so quiet here. Not the only one though, working like a madman to get everything up and running the way I want it, which includes tdhedengren.com and BloggerTalks, as well as some other funky stuff. Balancing this with client work isn’t always easy, you know.

Anyway, I’m moving servers now, so expect downtime or no-updates-time at least, for the next 24 hours or so, depending on exactly when the tech people get to work.

Thanks for your patience.

Update! This is done now, looks like it’s working properly as well. Nice work, A Small Orange.

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Back Online, Better Get Busy

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Wed, 14 May 2008 08:47:36 +0000

Back online. I’m psyched, finally got around to nailing down the main parts of my own little network, consisting of the blog you’re reading (which is due for relaunch, I’m mentioned this before, this is just a placeholder blog, sort of), the interview blog BloggerTalks, and upcoming productivity blog Feeling Productive. If nothing else, my downtime gave me the opportunity to stock up on some posts for the upcoming launch, and get some other network stuff done.

That’ll have to wait now, though. Got a lot of catching up to do, not to mention client work. So here we go again!

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Colleen Coplick on PR and Getting Famous, over at BloggerTalks

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Fri, 09 May 2008 11:00:40 +0000

It’s awfully quiet here, isn’t it? Yep, it is, I’m busy, really busy actually. There’s a lot of things that just don’t show very well at the moment, designs and work behind the scenes. I’m really hoping to have some stuff for you guys soon, including my plans for this site. The current version was ever a placeholder, as you’ve probably gathered by now.

But that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about. I wanted to let you know that this week’s interview over at BloggerTalks is up now, and it’s a good one: Colleen Coplick on PR and Getting Famous

Colleen’s the new blogger at Buzz Networker, and she’s got a background in the PR industry, so why not talk PR with her? I did, and the interview tells a lot, to quote my The Blog Herald news post on it:

[...] Colleen shares her views on paid reviews, PR agencies sending out samples, getting famous in the social sphere, how to write a great press release, and more.

Check it out, it’s a pretty good read, I think.

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Movable Type or WordPress?

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 08:41:46 +0000

I just published this week’s interview on BloggerTalks, talking to the new Blog Herald blogger, Arvind Satyanarayan about Movable Type. It includes comparing it to WordPress, talk about Six Apart Services, and more.

The interview article is titled Movable Type or WordPress – Arvind Knows What He Prefers and Why and I think you should read it.

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BloggerTalks Front Page Debuts

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 10:37:14 +0000

I’ve upgraded the BloggerTalks front page to what I had in mind all along, I mentioned it in the 3.0 beta launch post. The idea was and is to have a clean straight-forward approach, focusing only on the most recent interviews. Clean and lightweight, the way I like it.

Check it out, and for convenience (and archive purposes) I’ve included a screenshot below.

As you can see, I’ve decided to keep it simple and straight forward. Since BloggerTalks only have one kind of content – interviews – I find it fitting to only focus on that. The content is weekly, which in turns makes it even more suitable to focus on the latest addition in a different way than the rest of the content flow.

There are a few other fixes and additions besides the front page, such as the search results listing, and also the addition of further postmetadata.

I hope you like it.

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Looking For A New Host

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:49:12 +0000

I’m officially looking for a new host, having finally had it with A Small Orange. They have great support, and I love the control I have over my account, but at times my sites are going up and down like a yoyo. I can’t stand that, it’s a total buzzkill when it comes to blogging. I mean, here I have a great interview with Ankit over at BloggerTalks, and then the server starts coughing. That sucks. Luckily, this time the downtime wasn’t so long, they usually get everything up pretty quick, but it’s just too often for me to feel secure and confident with them.

That being said, I am indeed working on next week’s interview for BloggerTalks, and hopefully getting it out of beta (i.e. fixing some silly stuff and getting the real front page up) as well. After that, I can concentrate on Feeling Productive as well, and give this blog the TLC it deserves. After all, I can’t blame a blog for taking down servers at ASO, now can I?

Err…