SixApart today unveiled its next generation blogging platform, MovableType 4, and is open sourcing the software. The new release, now in beta, sports more than 50 new features the company hopes will put it on a competitive edge with other corporate blog platforms.

MovableType, which this very blog you're reading is published on, is the granddaddy of blogging platforms and once reigned supreme in its time. That is until an upstart open source platform called WordPress came along and took the online world by storm. SixApart hopes it can make up for lost ground by reaching out to developers and making its software free. They're moving in the right direction, but WordPress is now a major contender they will have to confront.

Download MovableType 4 Beta

Websites utilize all manner of multimedia to advertise services, evolving from the classis banner ad to more advanced flash-based motion imagery. Most of these forms of online advertising are just plain awful, but the worst by far is those darned annoying Flash-based ads that spontaneously blast you with audio. I can't even begin to count the number of times I was startled out of my chair (and underpants) late at night when loading some random webpage, when suddenly a voice comes blasting through my speakers..."CONGRATULATIONS! YOU'VE BEEN SELECTED TO RECEIVE A FREE IPOD!". Scary.

It's bad enough when this happens while I'm using a Mac, forcing me to turn down the volume settings from the keyboard. But on a typical PC I scramble to find the volume knob on my external speakers before arousing disapproving looks from nearby co-workers.

What really irritates me, aside from the annoying nature of these boisterous ads, is how ineffective they serve their functions. Advertisers foolishly assume such ads will entice viewers to click on them and read more about the services they offer. WRONG! What happens with most users, such as my case, is they simply move on to another webpage. In fact, annoying web ads have the exact opposite intended effect upon casual viewers. Instead of luring customers, they detour them. And yet advertisers still pursue us with noisy animated Flash-based ads.

Will they never learn?

If you are a YouTube junky like me, this free application is an invaluable tool for copying video content to your hard drive for playback on portable devices. GetTube works with any Flash-based video sites, and additionally converts Flash video to MP4 or MP3 (audio only).

Download GetTube
Please, download responsibly. ;-)

Brightcove is a fantastic video content site which enables users to roll their own channels, as it were. In effect you become your own director, producer, and publisher, reaching the eyeballs of millions of online viewers.

Sound familiar? YouTube anyone?

Cyberspace...the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Exeter. It's mission...to pick up where the original series left off. To employ amateur actors in various classic Star Trek plot recreations. To boldly go where no campy homemade sci-fi film has gone before! Ok, so it's not Leanord Nimoy and William Shatner at the helm of the Enterprise, but if you can look beyond the hammy community theater style acting, believe it or not, Starship Exeter is actually quite impressive. In fact, the first piece in the series, entitled "The Tressaurian Intersection", looks and feels so authentic, visually, it could almost be mistaken for an original Desilu production...I kid you not. The sets are especially impressive. The bridge and starship corridors are exact duplicates of the original sets designed by Matt Jeffries from the early series. The CGI-based U.S.S Exeter looks just like the real McCoy...uh, excuse the pun.

Episodes from the series are available free for download from the studio's site. Transer them onto your video iPod or PDA for viewing on the go. As I said, the acting is very amateurish...but what do expect from a group of Star Trek enthusiasts with limited acting skills on a low budget?

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