Comments

I've made a change to make commenting easier - this is how to do it:

Look for this area below the post, then click the "comments" link (circled in red)...

...then simply fill in the comment form that appears. It looks like this:

If you want to attribute the comment to yourself, be sure to select the "Name/URL" option in the "Comment As" section. Then fill in your name, and optionally give your URL (your web address). You can leave the URL blank though, so don't worry about this too much.

Remember, you can comment using your Google or AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) account, or any of the others listed.

Go ahead and test it by leaving a comment on this post!

Mobile Blogging

I've written a quick how-to to get you started blogging from your phone, also known as moblogging. And I have to admit that the word "moblogging" just sounds so cool, I'd probably do it no matter what it was. And now you can too.

You will need:

• To have already accepted an invitation to write to this blog.
• A phone capable of sending picture or video messages, sometimes known as "MMS" or "Multimedia Messaging Service" messages.
  
• An "unlimited" data plan is helpful, but not required.
• A computer
• About five minutes of time.

The set-up:

1. Send a picture or video message from your phone to go@blogger.com with the word REGISTER in the subject or body. This is only for registration, so any old picture/video will do. This first picture/video will not appear on the blog.
   Note: it won't work correctly with a regular text message.
   Recommended: save the address go@blogger.com to a new contact in your phone - I call mine "the Kids blog", for example. What, you didn't know you could save contacts' emails to your phone? Well, shoot, now ya' do!
   
2. You will receive a message back that says:
   "Welcome!
   blahbla.blogspot.com is your blog. Claim it at go.blogger.com with your code 123XYZ."
3. Using your computer, sign in to the Blogger/gmail account you created when you accepted the blog invitation, then go to go.blogger.com or click on the linked text.
4. Enter the "claim token" - above, it was 123XYZ.
5. After typing in the captcha and clicking continue, you'll arrive at a screen that says:
   "Mobile Blog Found..."
   You will notice the blog recognizes your Blogger/gmail account. If it is correct, click "Continue as this user." Otherwise, go back and sign in, and then come back here.
6. The next screen says:
   "Your mobile posts are being sent to blahbla.blogspot.com."
   You will see an option to switch it to the Kids blog below that. Do it!
   Note: if you don't see the option to switch blogs, you're either not signed in, or you didn't accept the invitation to write to the blog. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.
7. Click continue. You can now send picture or video messages from your phone to go@blogger.com, and they will be published here on the blog.
8. Bask in the glow of moblogdom.
   

Some final notes, and then I'm done, I swear:

• Make sure to send a picture or video message, with an actual picture or video attached. Some phone will convert your picture message to a regular text message if you don't throw in a picture or video, and then it gets weird when you try to send pictures up to the blog. Weird like it doesn't work.
  
• Confirmations are sent from the address postgateway@blogger.com. You can add this address as a second contact to "the Kids blog", but I recommend turning confirmations off altogether.
  
• If your phone supports multiple "slides" in a picture or video message (LG phones, possibly others), note that only the text you enter into the first slide will make it to the blog. You have 1000 characters - make 'em count! (And remember you can always edit the post from a computer later. We just want to know what you're doing right now, so quit being such a perfectionist, geez.)

And I'm spent. Send questions or comments to andrew.ring@gmail.com. I'll see you soon!