Good question. I don't know if the cert thing is correct. As far as I know, none of the systems generate content with HTTPS URLs which means that it's not secure. Please correct me if I am wrong. Or perhaps MT can be easily hacked to generate HTTPS stuff?
<quote>
Thinking about setting up a quick and secure weblog to store notes and reminders at home. What's the easiest way? A big constraint is that the only computers I have that run all day are a Linux box at home and a FreeBSD box on the other side of the world. So it has to run on UNIX. I want it to be totally web-accessible as well, so bzero is out. Also, it has to support HTTPS, and some reasonably decent form of authentication. HTTP digest would be fine. IMHO that won't be susceptible to man-in-the-middle attacks, even if I can't verify the HTTPS certificate. Can someone confirm this?
</quote> [Roland Tanglao: KLogs]

(SOURCE:Scripting News)-Yet another true manifesto!
<quote>
1. The Internet isn't complicated
2. The Internet isn't a thing. It's an agreement.
3. The Internet is stupid.
4. Adding value to the Internet lowers its value.
5. All the Internet's value grows on its edges.
6. Money moves to the suburbs.
7. The end of the world? Nah, the world of ends.
8. The Internet’s three virtues:
a. No one owns it
b. Everyone can use it
c. Anyone can improve it
9. If the Internet is so simple, why have so many been so boneheaded about it?
10. Some mistakes we can stop making already
</quote> [Roland Tanglao: KLogs]

Shirky Mar 7 2003 5:29AM ET [Moreover - XML and metadata news]

FM RadioStation

"FM RadioStation (FMRS) is a desktop application that enhances the Radio experience by integrating 3 applications: news aggregator, blog publishing tool, and web browser into a single, easy-to-use, unified experience."

Sounds interesting. I especially like how much easier it is to add an image to a post (an area sorely dismissed by current blogging tools). I'll try to give it a whirl this weekend but if I can't access it remotely, it won't do me any good.

[The Shifted Librarian]

Wow, I love the blogosphere (the capital "B" one and all the little ones)! First Scott Johnson creates Roogle, an RSS search engine (sorry, James), and then Micah Alpern just happens to have written an answer to my request for a search engine for my aggregator.

Searching the Blogosphere

"Until the semantic web arrives the best method we have to understand a users point of view is to examine the RSS feeds they subscribe to. I currently read RSS feeds from over 70 websites. This list of RSS feeds includes friends, publications, and domain expects; all people whose opinions I value.  If Googling my weblog is like searching by backup brain, then searching all sites in my RSS news aggregator is like searching the brains of people I respect and find interesting.

Some times I want to know what the world thinks                         (google)

Some times I want to know what I think                                        (my weblog)

Some times I want to know what those I respect think                  (blogs I read)....

I’m using the Google Soap API and PHP to do a series of domain specific searches with the site:foo.com advanced operator. Where do I get the list of news feeds to search?  Radio Userland, the RSS news aggregator I use produces an OPML file, which is an XML document that lists all my news sources.  All the results are collected together and presented on a single page....

As the quote by Alex Halavais at the top of this article notes, there are multiple blogsphere’s.  These intersecting spheres are broken down by, among other things, interests, associations, geography, and responsibilities. We each live in several sphere’s simultaneously. Identifying and exploiting these sphere will require technical infrastructure in identify and reputation that are still being developed.  As always the failure of geeks to find what they’re looking for will drive this development."

Basically, Micah has created an engine that searches the web (Google), your blog, or the blogs you read in your aggregator. It can even be incorporated into your web site! Wow. Majorly suh-weet with book-ending happy dances! Of course, you're still relying on Google's indexing of the blogs in your aggregator, but talk about a giant leap for blogkind. Thanks, Micah!

Isobel also suggests trying Agent Frank, which looks quite intriguing. I need more hours in the day!

[The Shifted Librarian]

Scott Johnson has launched a site that provides searching through RSS feeds. The site is currently called "Roogle" and its tag line is "searching some random number of RSS items." In just over 24 hours in service (as of this writing), the search site reports stats that say it has indexed over 3000 posts and responded to over 2500 queries. Apparently [EraBlog.NET]

Extend Your Information Seeking Skills With Newsfeeds

"Many people no longer receive a daily newspaper, or even buy one on the way to work. There is more news and more information being fed daily online than a newspaper could hope to print. However, those skills you used each morning for maybe twenty years, scanning the front page just before you race out to work, are still needed, and perhaps need to be refined and updated.

To experience more on the topic of this article you should download the newset of the bunch of Newsreaders and deliver news from Newsfeeds minute-by-minute during your day. No, this is not just your local, national or international newspapers participating; often you can have fed to you new information from weblogs, news sites, or whatever other site you like to choose. Effectively mix your own news.

Start here by downloading the new Australian built Awasu Personal Edition 1.0 (yes, it sounds Japanese, but I can assure you Awasu is an Australian-built product.) I have downloaded and tested Syndirella, NewzCrawler, AmphetaDesk, FeedReader, Userland Radio, Headline Viewer, WildGrape, and NewsGator. From this field, I would choose Awasu any day even though it is the newest of what they call the RSS Newsreaders out there." [Microdoc Info Seeker News]

I'm not familiar with Awasu, so it's another one to try. More and more people are figuring out the benefits of RSS news aggregators. If you're not reading this in an aggregator, you should try it and see for yourself.

[The Shifted Librarian]