What's New

By now most of you have noticed that there is a gray bar beside each article title and another bar underneath each article. So what's up with that?

I've written a "blogger's helper" for all of us out here in the blogosphere. I call it batBack, since many times after I've finished reading an article I'd like to "bat back" my opinion to the author and other readers. Maybe do some other stuff -- all as quickly as possible. One second you're done reading and the next, badda bing, you've given your two cents and can move on to the next article.

I thought I'd tell you a little bit about it.

Article Ratings - Beside each title is a bar with a little bar graph inside of it. If you hover your mouse over it, it will tell you how many people voted and what they thought of the article. If you see an article with greens beside the title, it might be something to check out. Likewise, if it has a bunch of reds, it was rated poorly by the other readers.

Rating the articles - Under each article is a voting button. If you click on it you can add your opinion, bat back your two cents to the world.

More like this - Ever read a blog article and want to find more information? You have to go to google, and then poke around trying to find the right words to learn more about the topic. With bat back, if you click on the "more like this" text, up will pop Google already loaded with matching articles.

Tell my friends - If you like an article, just click on this box, you can send a link to your friends. You can also include a short note. No need to copy and click around for your email program while you're reading!

Action Bar - There's a bunch of stuff you can do here, depending on how it's set up. This is where all of the custom extensions are added. Look for some cool stuff appearing on the action bar in the near future.

Skins - You can fully configure batBack with skins. Right now I've got my Battlestar Galactica skin up. Very neat!

Common Experience - If you set batBack up one way on a blog, it will look and act the same way on ALL blogs that use batBack. It's like having a little bit of your personality as part of all the blogs you visit.

Compatible - It works with most all of the blogging software out there today. It takes a novice about a minute to put on their blog. It also works with most all of the major web browsers.

It's All Free - That's right. For some of this stuff you'll have to register (by clicking the "Join" or "Preferences" text) but other than that there is no charge.

I hope you like it. If you know a blog that might benefit from something like this, please have them take a look. Comments are always appreciated! BTW -- my lawyer tells me I have to notify you that parts of this invention are covered under patent pending status. You can contact me for further details.


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