MBLOGGING

Moblogging 101
Blog Photos & Text On The Go
When your camera phone meets Web logging (aka blogging), you get moblogging, the posting of photos and text from a camera phone to a blog. These pictures and text can capture a special or otherwise mundane moment of your day that you can post to a moblog for visitors to the Web to see.

Moblogging has risen in popularity, and companies are adding moblogging support to blog services. Google also added moblogging support to its Blogger service. The introduction of moblogging support by these industry leaders enables the sharing of photos and text as part of your existing blog or gives you the tools to launch a new blog just for moblogging.

Although we used a Palm Treo 650 to capture the images that accompany this article, you can use any MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service)-enabled camera phone to send pictures to a moblog. If you are considering creating a moblog, look for an "all you can eat" MMS plan from your mobile provider because frequent moblogging can eat through low-end plans.


Moblogging With TypePad

Six Apart (www.sixapart.com) embraces moblogging in its TypePad (www.typepad.com) service. Sign up for a TypePad account, and you can easily set up a blog using templates the program provides. Six Apart is making significant inroads into moblogging by building business and technology alliances with the likes of Nokia and Adobe, offering customers mobile publishing support.

Figure 1: This moblog uses one of TypePad's mixed media layout templates to make pictures stand out as the content of the site.

TypePad includes a number of mixed media templates that enable your pictures to be front and center. You can see an example of a moblog using one of the mixed media templates in Figure 1.

Click one of the calendar's pictures, and you can open the photo on the moblog's index page.

Create a moblog. You have two options for setting up a moblog with TypePad: You can send your postings to your existing TypePad blog or create a new blog. Choosing one of the mixed media templates is a good way to distinguish your moblog from your main blog on TypePad. Otherwise, you can select an existing TypePad blog to receive photos from your mobile device. Your existing TypePad blog publishes pictures sent from a mobile device as another entry, as seen in Figure 2.

Figure 2: This example shows a photo published to a typical TypePad blog. It appears as a normal blog entry.

Publishing photos from a mobile device to an existing TypePad blog doesn't automatically assign a category to your posted photograph and text. If you use categories on your TypePad blog, you need to log in to TypePad to assign categories after the pictures go live on your blog.

Design a new moblog. Many mobloggers choose to set up a separate TypePad blog as a moblog. TypePad offers a selection of mixed media templates that display photos and text you send from your mobile device. If you only want to send photos to your current TypePad-hosted blog, you can skip to the "Specify Your Mobile Settings" topic. To continue setting up your moblog, click Design in TypePad and click Create New to go to the Template Builder: Layout page.

Choose one of the classic or mixed media layouts. The mixed media layouts are designed especially for moblogging. Click the Step 2: Select The Content For Your Weblog button. TypePad advances to the Template Builder: Content Selections page where you can choose other content to include in your moblog. Keep in mind that these content selections are the same across all the blogs and moblogs you host on your TypePad account.

Next, click the Step 3: Order Your Weblog Content button to advance to the Template Builder: Content Ordering page. If you chose to use a mixed media layout from the Template Builder: Layout page, you can't modify the order of how content appears on your moblog's main page.

Proceed by clicking the Step 4: Customize Your Weblog's Style button and choosing your moblog's design. Depending on your level of TypePad member-ship, you will have the option to use one of TypePad's predefined themes or a custom theme that you create from scratch.

Next, click the Step 5: Save Your Template button to complete the creation process for your moblog to appear on the Web. When the Template Builder: Save Template Set page appears, give your new template a descriptive name. Next, click Save And Apply This Design. Now you have the option to preview the new design or republish your blog. It's necessary to republish your blog when you establish the initial design, and afterward when you make significant design changes to your TypePad moblog or blog.

Now that you created the Web presence for your TypePad-based moblog, it's time to set up the communications link between your camera phone and your moblog.

TypePad's mobile settings control and secure how mobile devices interact with your TypePad moblog.

Specify your mobile settings. Type-Pad's mobile settings ensure secure transmission of pictures and text from your mobile device to your moblog. To configure settings, open the control panel for your moblog and select Edit My Mobile Settings.

First, complete the first step by selecting items from the drop-down menus in the Select Your Default Posting Settings area, including which TypePad Weblog. In the second step, indicate the email address(es) assigned to the mobile device(s) you are using to post your moblog. The email address you insert in the field should be one that your mobile provider assigned to your device and not an email address aliased to a personal Internet domain. You can specify email addresses for as many as five mobile devices, all of which don't have to belong to the TypePad account owner.

Additionally, you can email text posts from a wireless equipped PDA or laptop if you include email addresses for those devices in the Mobile Settings page. If you are publishing to your TypePad moblog using one of these devices, you can add the email accounts assigned by their ISPs to TypePad's mobile settings.

You have the option to verify messages you send under the Select How You Would Like To Verify Your Messages step. Choosing the Secret Email Address option ensures your moblog entries are sent to a secure email address that only you know. You'll then receive a confirmation email after your moblog entry posts to your TypePad site. You don't have to respond to this confirmation email. Although TypePad also lets you send pictures and text to remote@typepad.com, the secret email option is the most private and secure.

Setting a confirmation email is a good practice because it lets you know your posting is live without having to view the site or access TypePad's backend management tools. You don't have to respond to this confirmation email.

The remaining options for receiving notification regarding your message are going to be unwieldy to most mobile users. If you choose the Confirmation Messages option, you will receive a confirmation message on your mobile device after sending your photo or text. You must respond to the confirmation because it acts as a security measure controlling the publishing of moblog entries your site. The final option, PGP Signatures, lets you sign your messages using a PGP signature.

Figure 3: TypePad returns a confirmation message that you are free to delete from your mobile device.

Send your first moblog posting. You should add the email address you chose for your moblog to your mobile device's address book. After snapping a picture with your mobile device, attach the picture to an email and send the email to your TypePad moblog email address. Figure 3 shows how a confirmation message appears in a Treo 650.

Maintain your TypePad moblog. You can still use TypePad's backend management tools to maintain the look and feel of your moblog just like you would any other TypePad-hosted blog. TypePad treats your moblog just as it does other blogs hosted in your account.


Moblogging With Blogger

Google's Blogger (www.blogger.com), the granddaddy of blog systems, offers moblogging with its go@blogger.com feature. Blogger's moblog setup is less elegant and not as well designed as TypePad's mobile settings and blog setup. If you are new to blogging, prepare yourself because Google's emphasis on usability and user experience still hasn't caught up with the go@blogger feature. Even Blogger's basic blog setup and management features overshadow go@blogger.

By default, a moblog on Blogger takes the more traditional linear format of blogs.

Of course, you can customize the template for your moblog or just tie the go@blogger feature into your existing Blogger published blog.

The go@blogger start page includes full documentation for setting up your first moblog with Blogger.

Set up go@blogger.com. The Blogger Mobile start page is accessible from your Blogger Dashboard. Click Learn How To Start Mobile Blogging to open Blogger on the Go page.

Send an email or MMS with a picture from your mobile device to go@blogger.com, and go@blogger.com returns a claim token to your mobile phone and creates a new blog containing your picture and text. BlogSpot (www.blogspot.com) is the default host for your new mobile blog. The new blog appears in your Blogger Dashboard where you can manage the blog along with your other blogs.

You have the option to switch your new moblog's location to your personal Web site domain or some other host, but you will lose the first posting you sent during the go@blogger setup process.

Send your first moblog posting. After you have your moblog set up on your personal Web host or on BlogSpot, you can send a photo to your blog. Send a post via your MMS equipped-mobile phone to go@blog ger.com, and your posting will appear on your new moblog.

By default, a Blogger moblog follows the more traditional linear format of blogs.

Maintain your moblog. You can maintain you new moblog using the Blogger Dashboard just as you would any other Blogger-published and managed blog.

Moblogging Support On Other Systems

Although this article focuses on moblogging support for TypePad and Blogger, other blog services are offering moblogging. MSN is testing moblogging support for its MSN Spaces blogging service (spaces.msn.com). Word Press (www.wordpress.org) also offers support for publishing from mobile devices.

Flickr (www.flickr.com), the online photo sharing system that Yahoo! recently acquired, also includes a moblogging feature that enables users to send photos from their MMS-equipped mobile phones to their Flickr accounts.


Capture The Moment

Moblogs offer another personal publishing venue for people who want to capture special moments using their camera phones. Whether you are adding photos to your existing blog or christening a new moblog highlighting the mundane to special moments of your travels, major blog systems like TypePad and Blogger offer the right publishing tools for you.

by Will Kelly