Steve has been on our elite list long ago before Deborah from Life In A Fast Lane could remind us of our missing him. We had always admired his writings over Inventorspot with little knowledge that he has started contributing on other renowned blogs well i.e. Weburbanist. Wish Steve could spare sometime for elitechoice also and breed his creativity here.

Hailing from Toronto, Steve is our first elite guest who is consciously aware of Japan’s economy in and out. Here, we managed to get more insight of Japanese culture from him and also, his take on other areas.

Read further to know more about this self-employed blogger:

•    Steve, kindly introduce yourself to my readers and take us through your usual day at work.

Hi fellow Elite Choice readers! Let me first thank you for inviting me to be an Elite Blogger, it’s a great honor. As for my work day, I’m self employed so I get to set my own hours… which really isn’t as much fun as you might think. Being the boss AND the staff, I can’t goof off without the boss knowing what I’m up to. Seriously though, I don’t lock myself into a rigid 9 to 5 schedule but I do try to complete 3 major tasks every day. That way I feel I’ve accomplished something and I clear room for the next day’s projects.

•    To what extent have blogs become an integral important part of the way people now access information? When did you sense an inclination towards blogging? Are you satisfied with the functionality of the blogging ecosystem or think there is a need for revamp?

It’s very exciting to be a blogger in this day & age. Getting in on the ground floor just a few years ago and watching the medium grow in so many ways is like having the window open as history unfolds around you. I’m convinced that the trend away from traditional sources of news and entertainment and towards dedicated blogs will only continue – and that’s a good thing! People who know what they like can go online and get it at their convenience, and those who don’t have any particular interest can browse the web until they find something that DOES interest them. Blogging is democratic in nature, universal in appeal and available to anyone with an Internet connection. One would hope the rest of the world follows down the peaceful path the Blogosphere has blazed.

•    How different is Japan’s culture from countries that you have visited?

From my experience, Japan’s modern day culture is unique. Rising from the ashes of not just war, but nuclear war, Japan has risen to become the world’s second-largest economy while managing to keep much of its traditional culture and society intact. This is a cultural anchor that supports people and helps prevent them from getting swept away by rapid societal and technological change. Things are by no means perfect in Japan but in my opinion, the rest of the world can learn much from observing – even imitating – the Japanese model.

•    Steve, you have been writing a lot about Japan and also international technology. How would you relate technology with luxury products? Do they correlate with each other?

In many cases technology does correlate with luxury products since many people are willing to pay more for something more technologically advanced. On the other hand, today’s technology may be surpassed tomorrow, yet with traditional luxury items like jewelry, gold and fine art there is an intrinsic value that will always be appreciated no matter what.

•    While it is true that most luxury products are assumed elite, and most elite products as being luxurious, we think there is a difference. What do you think?

Well, it all depends on what market the product is intended for. Just like the old cliche goes, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.

•    Having seen Japanese culture up close, can you tell us why there are no evident signs of an economic recession that has clawed onto this country for more than a decade now?

The signs are there if you look in the right places. Unemployment and even homelessness are up but most tourists don’t visit Toyota City, where many auto workers have been laid off. Also, many full time jobs have been quietly replaced by part-time jobs – the trains may still be full but the commuters’ pay packets, not so much. There’s also been change in the retailing sector: “100 yen stores” (1 yen = roughly 1 dollar) and low-priced chains like Uniqlo have become more popular.

•    We also hear that the Japanese government is issuing a ‘help allowance’ to those living in Japan to help pull through the hard times. Frankly, we have never heard of anything like this before. What’s your opinion — is it just plain bizarre or do you understand the psyche behind this step?

I understand what the government is trying to do: put money in people’s pockets and hope they’ll spend it but it’s more likely people will just save the money. Japan has a very savings-oriented culture. The amount of money being given out is also very small, only us$120 or so. Here in Canada, our provincial government will be giving people up to $1,000 so that’s something I’m in favor of… and very much looking forward to!

•    Is it true to say that technology and gadgets are being produced at a rate that poses a tough time for the makers themselves considering the cruelty of terrorism age?

I wouldn’t say so; people have always looked to distractions from bad news and tough times. In the Great Depression, movies were a favored escape, at least for those who could afford to go. Today people distract themselves by playing video games, using their Wii, fiddling with some new cool gadget and so on – all these are more fun than reading the financial news.

•    Tell us about your ‘must-read’ or favorite blogs?
I’m lucky to write for blogs like InventorSpot, WebUrbanist, Burbia and The Thinking Blog that also feature some really great writers and I’d recommend them to anyone looking for great reading, interesting information and something a little out of the ordinary.

I also read blogs like Japundit and News On Japan that specialize in Japanese content – not only do they cater to my interests but they’re also a source of great topics for my own articles. Last but certainly not least, my son’s blog, Yersys Technology Blog . He’s just 14 and High School is his main focus but in less than a year he’s managed to create a popular blog that features computers and news from the tech world. I really hope your readers will check it out; new bloggers need support but notwithstanding that, he’s done a terrific job and I’m very proud of him!

•    Provide us with your five favorite posts you have written to date over at InventorSpot and WebUrbanist.

I’ll include Burbia and The Thinking Blog in the mix as I’m now a regular contributor there:

“The Top Ten Weird and Bizarre Japanese Soft Drinks”

“Future Past: 173 Radical Retrofuturistic Directions in Design & Technology”

“Pirates Amok – Yo Ho Ho And A Sultanate Of Rum”

“Japan Tobacco’s Delightfully Disturbing ‘Smoking Manners for Adults’ Ads, Part 1″ of an ongoing series

From The Thinking Blog: “Extinct Human Species Smarter Than Us?”

How would you like to be known:
•    Explorer:
•    Blogger:
•    Technophile:
•    Product Reviewer:
•    Entrepreneur:
•    Others:

Well, I’ve had a few different careers over the years but writing and blogging has been the most enjoyable. As far as being “known”, that’s one good thing about the Internet: it gives you a measure of immortality. If what I write is appreciated then it (and “me”) will keep floating around long after I’m gone.

Quick bites:
•    Hours you invest digging the Net: About 6 hours a day, more or less. Usually more.
•    Biggest blogging mistake you made: Not learning how to write for Adsense early enough.
•    One hidden truth: Be nice to people you write about – they just might write about you one day!
•    If asked to post only on one blog (not InventorSpot or WebUrbanist): Burbia , where I’m given the most freedom regarding topics and content.
•    Advice you would have given yourself five years ago?: All blogs (and all bloggers) get off to a slow start but patience – and regularly posting good content – will pay off in the long run.
•    If not a Blogger/Writer, then… That’s hard to say, because writer and blogging isn’t my first career, it’s only my most recent one. If I wasn’t blogging, I would probably be consulting people on how to be bloggers themselves.
•    Life without Internet: I grew up without the Internet but it’s still hard to imagine living without it today. No single technological advance has changed people’s lives as much. If the Internet crashed for some reason and could not be resurrected, I think that would make the current financial crisis look very trivial.

•    Which is your favorite social networking site? Digg, StumbleUpon, Twitter or… There are so many social networking sites out there and they all have their pros and cons but I especially like a site called Fark. Posters submit actual news stories with headlines crafted to be humorous. Another feature of Fark is the Comments section, which is a real comedic goldmine.

•    Whom would you recommend as my next EliteBlogger and why?

That’s a tough decision because there are so many great bloggers out there, but if I had to choose one I’d recommend Gerri Elder from Absolutely True. Gerri writes for and operates her own blog, is active and popular at sites like Digg and StumbleUpon, and she somehow manages to manage her family in real life. I think she sets a fine example for any new blogger who’s considering starting their own blog and/or getting into social media.

•    Give us your views on EliteChoice.

Elite Choice is a very appealing site for those who want to seek out the best life offers from the comfort of their cozy computer chairs. Not everyone has the time to physically shop for luxury goods – an endeavor that requires much window-shopping due to the high cost of such goods. Why not virtually browse for the best, using your computer’s browser? A clever concept, nicely executed!

•    You can ask me one question:

Thank you Zola. I see that Elite Choice is based in India and the language used is English. How would a non-Indian, English-speaking blogger such as myself gain wider access to the vast pool of young, educated, upwardly mobile Indian netizens? I think this is the one major problem bloggers face today – how to boost readership beyond their home countries. The Internet is International so let’s try and break down those walls!

I hear you Steve and understand your concern. With social media networking/ marketing evolving as a new culture, I believe all your worries would be dumped as it offers you not only international reach but widens your approach towards things. I am saying this out of my learning from my stay at networks like Stumbleupon, digg, twitter and others. Also, I believe that its word of mouth that can drive savvy readers to a blog. Hope that answers.

At last, I would like to thank you for your interesting shot of answers and Vlad and Saba also for equally remarkable questions. Steve, we wish to luck for your future endeavors.

R.J.J. Jongschaap, not a veteran blogger but an active contributor to the development of blogosphere is our elite guest today. You may have known him as a top stumbler and here I suggest you to bookmark his frequently updated blogs LinkNotes and ClipsToNote, as they are populated with quality sources posting the buzz across science, technology, design, environment and others.

Rob chooses not-to-be called as a writer or a retired associate professor but says: “I’m a collector, explorer and an envoy. I like to collect information, explore things and explain them to others. Earlier I did that in science; now in blogging and social networking.”

Go with the flow to know more about this would-be seasoned blogger.

•    Rob, Kindly introduce yourself to my readers and take us through your usual day at work.
I am one of the privileged who can spend most of the time doing things they like most. In my case that includes exploring the internet. Actually collecting online information has always been a part of my work and after my retirement I continued focusing on news and more general topics. Also, I have ventured into blogging and actively participate across social networks.

Being retired I could hardly speak now of a usual day at work, but let me outline what I’m doing in the context of blogging. Actually it is a never ending cycle of collecting, networking, writing and editing. I usually start my day by checking out messages, and scanning the feeds of many blogs and news sites.  When I find interesting stories I bookmark them, for use in future blog posts and if they are really remarkable I submit them to social networks, currently in particular StumbleUpon and Twitter. Later I select a few topics and start writing posts for my blogs. In the evening, my focus again shifts to networking.

•    To what extent blogs has become an integral important part of the way people now access information?

Long before I started blogging I used the internet, including weblogs, already as an important source of information. Obvious advantages of blogs are the timeliness, the wide diversity and huge amount of available content. A drawback of course is not everything is of the same quality and reliability, but the current excellent search and aggregation tools very well compensate for that.

•    Having spent good years in the Department of Applied Physics of the University of Twente in The Netherlands, what made you venture into blogging as after retirement you could have pursued similar interest.

My switch from science to blogging has been a gradual process. After my retirement I first continued some scientific work. The content of that work was completely different from that of my current blogging, but the process was more or less the same: collecting information, working on it, networking and publishing. Gradually I ceased with professional scientific studies, focused more and more on subjects of general interest and started publishing in the form of blogging.

•    What remains the criterion of posts over LinkNotes and ClipsToNote. How are these two different from each other?

The first one, my blog LinkNotes is the one I started with, the second one ClipsToNote, with mainly shorter posts, came later.  A common characteristic of both is a focus on items that are remarkable, surprising and sometimes even bizarre or funny. The subjects are often related to science and technology, but also on design, environment, and more. My writings here are always objective and doesn’t depict my personal view point on a subject. I like to select, collect and share information but not my opinion.

Both blogs have posts of a special format: a collection of clips of other sources. Initially, when I started  LinkNotes the clips were tiny and the post just annotated links. At that time the blog was essentially a collection of bookmarks. Later by increasing the size of the clips, the posts became a bit longer and also worth reading on their own. This, however, raised the dilemma of how to obtain more or less self contained posts without copying too much original content. The solution I found was: clipping from various sources. My posts are no longer based on a single link, but on various links about a particular item. The major values add I consider here is the concise introduction and overview.

Actually I also have a third blog, of the format I started LinkNotes: annotated links of interesting sites:  my pages on stumbleupon. Here my emphasis remains maintaining an interesting blog, thereby enjoying the added value of the networking features of that site. Using StumbleUpon is currently a substantial part of my online blogging and networking activity.

•    Is your blog making enough money or you are engaged in other work-related activities as well?

When I started blogging I thought that making money would be an easy side product of the activity. Soon however I learned that such is not the case. I have tried out a few things, but with no success, probably I am not doing it in right manner. You may see couple of ads running but the profit is marginal. Fortunately blogging is for me a hobby and not a source of income.

•    With the development of green houses, automobile and gadgets, do you think technology is really going green or it is a sheer PR exercise?

Both I think. Fortunately more and more people are aware of the need to take care of environment and our natural resources. The interest in developing green houses, automobile and gadgets is a logical consequence of that attitude. On the other hand, given that it is popular, also makes it a perfect marketing strategy: call your product Green and it will sell. It is clear that environmental concerns are often misused in this manner. This, however, is one of the few cases where misuse does not do much harm. Even if the involved products are not green at all, the marketing campaign can still be considered as a contribution to environmental awareness.

•    How would you define an ideal blog? Which one is your ideal blog at blogosphere?

Just like there is no such thing as ideal music or ideal art, I don’t think that there is something like an ideal blog. A blog can be realized in many different manners ranging from daily reports of someones hobby to periodical scientific essays. In all cases when this is done with dedication and care it is OK. Moreover there is a highly competitive market of blogs where what will survive and become popular finally is determined by the acceptance of the visitors.

•    Tell us about five of your daily-reads’ or favorites blogs?

Initially, I indeed had a few favorite blogs, which were my daily-reads, but also because they were Dutch, it would not be very useful to mention them now.  What I would like to emphasize, however, is that currently I have no favorite blogs at all. In my feed reader I am subscribed to more than 700 blogs and other media which I follow with no particular preference. Some sources that I use often (not all of them are blogs) are:

Mail Online Science & Tech

Science Daily Computers & Math

TFOT-The future of things

Science Daily

Trends Updates

•    Provide us with your five favorite posts you have written to date.

My blog Linknotes already contains more that 4000 posts and ClipsToNote about 1000. All of them are a kind of snapshots and I can hardly say which are my favorites. What is remarkable however that a few remains consistently popular. Strange enough for LinkNotes these are not the elaborate ones  but rather some simple small bookmark-like posts like

LinkNotes: Earth and Jupiter viewed from Mars

LinkNotes: Headache Illusion

LinkNotes: Project Free TV

Strange enough, some of the most popular posts in ClipsToNote are a bit longer, e.g.:

ClipsToNote: Alain Robert—French Skyscraper Climber

ClipsToNote: Sneakey Teleduplicationof keys from Photos

•    Name your favorite bloggers (if any) that have won your heart whilst your 3-years of stay at blogosphere. What makes them different from the myriad of bloggers?

Before I started blogging myself, I indeed had a few – most Dutch – bloggers whose blogs I read with great admiration almost every day. Currently, I have no blogs which I read daily and even no favorite bloggers. As I said, I follow a lot of blogs and other media in feeds and in social media without focusing upon any of them in particular.

In general I would say that what makes a blogger different from the myriad is the ability to express complex thoughts or opinions on a clear and concise manner. Online readers do not want to read long stories; they want to be informed quick and clearly. A blogger should attempt to meet that need as much as possible.

•    How would you like to be called as:
a) Blogger b) Retired associate professor  c) Writer d)Social media person

None of them I would say: I still see myself a starting blogger who still has a lot to learn. Being professionally no longer involved with scientific research, it would not be appropriate to call me a retired associate professor. My blogging style is clipping, rather than writing, so I would definitely not call myself a writer and despite I’m often using social media, I would not like to be seen as a social media person. Let’s say that I’m a collector, explorer and an envoy. I like to collect information, explore things and explain them to others. Earlier I did that in science; now in blogging and social networking.

•    Quick bites:

Biggest mistake you did:
Having starting blogging without any experience, I have made many mistakes. For example in social networking: initially I use to share all my exclusive and latest posts (hardly any other links) with Stumble upon friends, leading to suspension of my account there. Currently I’m doing the opposite: I use Stumble Upon as a social network, sharing many interesting links without any promotion at all.

One hidden truth:
Favorite items for me to blog about are gadgets and design. I must confess, however that I seldom buy gadgets and that in my home you will find almost no interesting design. In that sense I am – like in my former scientific work – a theorist.

If asked to post only on one blog (not yours) which one would that be?
That should be one with short posts and remarkable news on gadgets, design, science, technology etc. maybe the present Elite Choice.

Advice you would have given yourself five years ago?
When I would start blogging again I would – instead of  trial and error -  have  chosen for more systematic approach, with a well defined goals,  subjects and categories, a better webdesign etc.
If you wouldn’t have gone to school of Applied Physics, then

I would definitely have chosen something in science and technology. When I started my career there was hardly any school of learning offering computer and information science and technology. Maybe I would have chosen that if I got a chance.

How long could you survive without the internet:
One, maybe two days

One thing you hate about Social networks:

Hate is not the right word, but a quandary is that when you enjoy it and use it more intensively, it soon starts taking a lots of time.

Count of professions you have been into:
That’s not very exciting in my case. After finishing my studies I started my career in teaching and research on University and I stayed there for more than thirty years.

If asked for giving three tips to a greenhorn blogger, what would that be?
1.    As state above: take some time for a careful preparation: goals, subject(s), categories, layout, etc.
2.    Try to make your blog a bit unconventional (I did it by choosing the clips-format)
3.    Be consistent: a fixed post frequency, length of the posts, style of writing,

•    Your favorites:

City:
I am very happy with my own city: Enschede in The Netherlands, but of all cities I have seen in the world, in particular New York impressed me very much

Music:
No pop and other kinds of contemporary music, but old Jazz: Duke Ellington, Count Basie, … and Classical musid: Beethoven, Chopin, Schubert, …

Book:
I read a lot, but almost all online. The last time I really read a book is many years ago. I also have no favorite.

Gadget:
My favorite gadget is my Nokia E71 smartphone.

Movie:
I like movies with much excitement and fun, the James Bond movies are among my favorites.

Color: Green

•    You are visible across all social media sites. Which one is your favorite and also name the one you dislike the most and why?

That I am visible on many social media sites does not mean that I am using them all. I tried out a lot but i am currently using just a few. Initially I used sites like Propeller, Mixx, Digg, Reddit etc. to promote my blogs, but I noted that doing this effectively takes a lot of time. Finally I stopped completely with that part of social networking.

What remains, is a very intensive use of StumbleUpon. As mentioned above, initially I used that for promotion too, but now I just enjoy daily the contacts with many friends. My effort to collect and maintain good content there has  given me there the status of Top Stumbler for a long time already.
•    Whom would you recommend for being featured as my next EliteBlogger and why?

I would like to recommend, one of my online friends, who often has been of great help to me with valuable advice about blogging:  Mihaela Lica, an excellent blogger, online public relations media consultant and founder of Pamil Visions.

•    Give us your views on EliteChoice.
The nice thing of EliteChoice for me is that is covers a lot of my fields of interest: trends, technology, design, and more, in a style that I like: short and clear articles. Moreover it is of interest to me as an example of a blog that performs excellent in certain aspects where for me improvement is needed: a professional approach, a nice layout and very well organized.

•    Your turn! You can ask me one question.
Let me first thank you for inviting me for this interview. At first I thought that what I could tell here would be of not much interest, but after going through it I am glad that you gave me a chance.   It was really nice to become aware in this manner of my motivations and goals in blogging.

What I would like to ask you is: having obtained so much insight about blogging and bloggers with these interviews, if and how you are going to share this insight with us.

Rob, I tend to learn from people achievements and failures, besides my own- And here having interviewed 30 plus famed bloggers, we implement that set of learning to our writings and the way we present them over our blog. Also, it has widened our approach towards discovering prospective feeds and generating visibility for co-bloggers and our savvy readers. Through this series, I have managed to reach all famed bloggers and take pride in having an affirmative response from all of them to participate in this series. What I really like is the transparency maintained by each of my elite blogger that ends up offering various solutions/options to our dilemmas.

I would like to thank Rob for sparing our time and penning down details to questions asked by our curious readers and colleagues. Rob, we wish you luck for your future endeavors in online and offline space.

“Life in the Fast Lane,” a blog has literal roots attached to it as it represents the business of Fast Lane Transport, Ltd. located in Edmonton, Alberta.  But Deborah, our elite blogger and the primary writer of the blog draws no limits to her delivery at “LITFL.”  It features her interest in art, the odd, the unusual, offbeat news, weird sciences, her little business and even trucking-:)

Readers spend minutes at her blog and you will get to see to know her better. Good if you can spare time and she her more active side of personality across social networking communities – undoubtedly a great stumbler!

Google ‘Deborah Petersen’ and you will get to read

Get away from the every day
Come away with me!
To Life in the Fast Lane
Will take you far,
Far away!
To places
You have never been!
I will show you things
You have never seen!
I will tell you things
You have never heard!
Soar freely
As a bird!
I will make you laugh!
I will make you cry
Tears of joy!
Come journey with me to life!
In the Fast Lane

As recommended by Kurt Kohlstedt from Web Urbanist , I happen to ask Deborah for honoring us by being our elite blogger and my cheerful friend  gave her  confirmation in to time.
Here she goes:

1) Is there any niche that you maintain while posting articles on your blog or are they random picks that complements the unusualness of readers?  Why have you named it “Life in the Fast Lane”? Are the implications sarcastic, realistic or ….?

Basically, anything that I post about is of something unusual in nature — be it arts, places on our planet, science, technology, and even architecture.

The reason for the name of my blog is quite simple, actually. My husband’s name is Layne, and many of our customers called him Fast Layne, hence the name Fast Lane Transport when we formed our business. The blog was initially to be an off-shoot of our business website, so I named it Life in the Fast Lane.

There are only so many things that you can write about that readers would find interesting for the trucking industry, so much to the chagrin of our webmaster, I began publishing posts on topics that were if interest to me instead.

2) What made you create this platform “Life in the Fast Lane” and how far have you succeeded in sharing your business experiences of Fast Lane Transport.
I had hired Matt Keagan in our early days of our business website as an editor for pages that I had written. Between Matt and our webmaster, they had convinced me that I should start a blog.
I had no writing experience whatsoever, but with Matt’s incredible support, I went ahead with it. He was my mentor when I first started the blog, and we became great friends.

I didn’t have much of an interest to write trucking articles, and decided to write about topics that I’m passionate about or have an interest in. Therein lies much of the success, writing about what I’m ardent over — advice I would offer to any serious blogger.

3) How do you maintain stability at writing front as you deliver articles across diverse areas i.e. humor, art, science, gadgets, business, and other random stuff? (assuming you are a solo writer here)

That’s an easier question to ask than it is to answer, as it may have numerous implications. In regards as to consistency or relevance of topics, as mentioned, most anything that I write about is of an unusual nature.
Yes, I am the solo writer, and in that lies the main issue of stability as far as publishing on a consistent basis goes. I have had the occasional guest blogger write articles, but being a ‘one-man-show’ can take its toll over time.

Bloggers frequently feel the need to meet a self-imposed commitment to publish frequently enough for their readers.  My regular posts entail anywhere from 6 to 8 hours to compose from start to finish on average; the more ‘mammoth-style’ posts take anywhere from 2 to 3 days of solid work. Dedication of so much time on a daily basis becomes difficult to meet and highly taxing on many levels. Inevitably, you’re going to burn out, and various other areas of your life may suffer.
I have seen it happen to many others, and have experienced it myself — eventually one needs to take a break from it all. The death of my dear dog a couple of months ago was my reality check. I am currently on hiatus from the blog, drinking in a little more of life, family (including a new puppy), and investing more time in my business. There needs to be a balance to maintain a healthy living and life-style, which is a lot easier said than done

So my advice to others is to not permit your blogging to completely consume you. Write with passion about topics that you’re interested in, but don’t forget to stop and smell the flowers, so to speak.

4) Pen down your five favorite posts written till date.
It’s difficult to really narrow it down, but here are 5 which quickly come to mind, in no particular order:

The Bizarre Underworld and Lunar Landscape of Cappadocia– a very surrealistic and intriguing land of lost cities.

35 Ghosts of Nature – Albino Animals of the Wild — It’s no secret that I’m a huge animal lover. This is but one of the many posts on animals that I’ve published.

World’s Most Bizarre and Intriguing Water Fountains — who doesn’t love the ‘rush’ and sound of flowing water, especially when it relates to unique artworks?

12 Most Astonishing Hot Springs in the World — I feel that Mother Nature is the most incredible artist above all, and she surely doesn’t disappoint us with her picturesque hot springs.

Shih Tzu – Small Heroes Amongst Us last but far from the least — in fact, probably my favorite — is a tribute that I wrote to my dog Daisy who recently left this plane. It’s one of the rare occasions that I’ve ever published anything of a personal nature, but I also go into providing information not only on shih tzu’s, but about choosing compatible companions, finding reputable breeders, and a must-watch video on puppy mills.

5) Tell us about your ”must-read” or favorite blogs?

I think that I would be derelict if I failed to refer to others who are either friends or acquaintances in my niche whose blogs I enjoy, respect, and admire. I do have a number of others that I have not included, so if some of my friends are reading this, please don’t be offended! Here they are in no specific order:

WebUrbanist– A funky site on topics “from urban design to subversive art and strange architecture.”

Dark Roasted Blend—For the weird and wonderful things to complement your daily coffee ritual.

Deputy Dog: Many wild and zany posts on architecture, engineering, or design.

The Daily Green–Home to my friend Brian C. Howard, “an eco-warrior, home and tips editor, and builder of his own social pyramid in cyberspace.”

Neatorama – they now have an ‘upcoming queue’ for which you can participate in voting on the best submissions which are promoted to their front page.

InventorSpot—Every day is a surprise as to what you will find there, but it’s typically light, fun, and interesting.

6) Quick bites:

1. Hours you invest surfing net:
I’m embarrassed to admit what it used to be, but as of late, several hours per day.

2. Biggest blogging mistake you did:
Accepting an interview for a book on blogging entitled Blogging Heroes; I was horribly misquoted several times, as were others whom I spoke to that were interviewed. Despite requests to make corrections prior to publishing, they were not made, although I was told they had been.

3. One hidden truth: I’m a chocaholic.

4. If asked to post only on one blog (not Lifeinthefastlane), which one would that be?

WebUrbanist; they’re a great bunch, and we have many topic interests in common, sharing a similar niche. In fact, I’ve even referred my friend Steve to them, someone whom I respect and admire as a professional writer and on-line friend — a match made in blogging heaven, in my opinion.

5. Advice you would have given yourself five years ago?
Time passes far too quickly. Stop to take time to enjoy the day, and live in the moment. Each minute you miss is time lost and will not return to you again.

6. If not a blogger then.
An entrepreneur; having lived the lifestyle for many years, it’s the one means of earning an income that that fulfills me.

7. Life without Internet: Harsh. Nearly anything you need to know about can be found on the net.

8. First gadget you kept your fingers upon: My first laptop.

9) Which social networking sites you would recommend to an Internet mammal?

While Digg has had its controversies, it’s the one place where I can find breaking news before I hear about it locally, as well as many interesting articles. The upcoming queue is where it’s all at to find the gems. I rarely look at the front page, as certain sites kind of appear to be favored to ever make it there.

StumbleUpon is also one of my favorites, and an entirely different social media site and environment than Digg. The two are the main sites that I spend my online time at.

Whom would you recommend as my next EliteBlogger and Why?

Steve Levenstein, who writes for both WebUrbanist and Inventor Spot. He’s an awesome guy as a person, and never fails to entertain or give you a laugh with his witty and clever writing style on a broad spectrum of off-beat topics, and whacky Japanese inventions.

9) Your turn! I am ready to answer a question for you.

I would really like to know about how and why you started and continue to interview bloggers. I guess that technically constitutes more than one question, but I’m sure your readers would love to hear it as well!
In closing, I’d like to thank you for inviting me for this interview and the opportunity to be here.

Deborah, it was in late 2005 that I ventured into blogging and with days passing, there evolved a curiosity within me as to who all are the faces behind established blogs, what is their mindset, why they started their respective blogs, how they manage their day and many others. Also, I thought it would be a good way to network with co-bloggers and know them personally as we know today-:)

Continuation was bound to happen as the long gap was accidental. Hope things at my end remain in-tact now so that I can do justice to my ongoing series.

I would like to thanks Deborah on behalf of ELITE CHOICE team for sparing out time and considering our proposal of elite blogger and wish her a happy married life ahead.

Cheers!

To begin with, the celebrating statement of the day is EliteBlogger = Birday gurl Miss Cellania.
I was on my hunt for my next EliteBlogger after interviewing Alex from Neatorama and Shaun from Deputy Dog. And then fortunately both the bloggers recommended Miss Cellania, who is popularly known across blogosphere for her contribution across diverse nature of blogs i.e. Neatorama, YesButNoButYes and Mental Floss. Cutting the long story short, I spent couple of hours getting a fair idea of her deliverables and got to know that she is the Blogebrity of the humorous and offbeat stuff.

The very day I sent her an invite to be my EliteBlogger with a prompt response from her saying: Sure, I will be glad to answer your questions.

And here we have her with us penning down interesting responses to the long-list of questions sent across. Go with the flow:

Cellania, Kindly introduce yourself to my readers and take us through your usual day at work.
I get the kids off to school in the morning, then surf the web and post items at Neatorama and YesButNoButYes until about 1 or 2PM. Then I do some housework and take a nap. In the evening, I take the kids to their activities, check on my mother-in-law, grab some dinner, help with homework, and try to get the kids in bed by ten. Then I write for mental_floss and my own blog until maybe 3AM.

When did you sense an inclination towards blogging?
I started sending a newsletter of jokes in 2004 to reconnect with old friends and entertain new online friends. When I discovered blogging, it seemed like a much easier way to do the same thing.

Whilst having an email-interview with Alex, he introduced me to Neatorama as the neat side of web. What remains your criterion of post selection that you play here?
The main criteria for Neatorama is that an item be interesting; the kind of thing that will make you say, “Hey, that’s neat!” Other than that, it must be appealing to a wide audience, fairly safe for family viewing, and something we haven’t posted before.

Is there any niche that you maintain while posting “Morning Cup of Links” at Mental Floss or are they random picks that fit well one’s breakfast table?

I try to get a variety every day. Optimally, I’d love to have a science breakthrough, a link or two on history, geography, or language, some news that makes you think, and several funny links. And a kitten doing something cute. But I will sacrifice variety for quality, depending on what’s good that day.

How is your experience to write for a site targeted at men (YesButNoButYes)? Is it difficult or interesting?

Both difficult AND interesting! I walk a fine line trying to be ladylike and give the guys what they want. There have been many times I’ll pass on a great story or link because I think it’s over the line for me, and later find one of the guys used it and had a very successful post. But that’s OK.

How do you maintain stability at writing front as you deliver articles across diverse areas i.e. humor, movies, men, gadgets, and other random stuff?
For my own site, I just collect anything that amuses me. Working for mental_floss has caused me to expand my horizons, so to speak, since I never wrote about gadgets at all until they asked me to do a weekly “gadget report”. And I’m always looking outside my comfort zone to find subjects for my mental_floss features. It keeps me on my toes, but I’d hardly call it maintaining stability.

Japan seems to breed robots in huge numbers. Can you imagine a day when robots are efficient enough to substitute humans for all major tasks? Would you depute one to blog for you?
If I could afford it, sure! In fact, I would hire a human to do it for me now, if I had the money. I’d also hire someone, or a robot, to clean my house if I could.

How would you define an ideal blog? I mean, what special features it must have to make an impact and deliver?
There are no universal ideals, because there is no way to please the entire online audience. There are niches for link blogs, political blogs, personal blogs, specialty blogs, art blogs, etc etc. They all have different standards to appeal to a different audience. Within each genre, they should have 1. Quality content, 2. Whatever it take to make accessing that content easy for the reader, like a pleasing layout, simple navigation, and proper grammar and spelling. Even those things vary, because you don’t need proper grammar on a blog that posts graphics only, and a pleasing layout varies depending on the type of blog and the audience.

Do you think there is any scope left for evolving bloggers to try their luck?
There is room for many more bloggers! You hear about how many millions of blogs there are, but they come in all languages covering many different subjects. And many bloggers don’t need luck, because they aren’t setting goals for their blogs -they just want to write for whoever is interested. Blogging is easy to try out, and easy to quit if you aren’t getting what you want out of it.

Both your personal blogs Miss Cellania and Miss C Recommends seem to be populated with videos. Considering your inclination towards digital technology, can we expect you to enter into the domain of podcasting in coming months?
I don’t have the time or patience to do audio podcasting. I don’t even have the time or patience to listen to podcasts! As far as video goes, I tried that at Neatorama. Since I live in a small town far away from anything interesting, it’s really hard to find good subjects to shoot.

Pen down your five favorite posts written till date.

The LOLcat of Death.
Does My Butt Look Big in This?
The Weirdest Insects in the World.
My Dream Job.
8 Historical Crossdressers: Women in a Man’s World.

I’m sure I’ve forgotten something that should go here.

Whom would you count as the top-five male and female bloggers that has enabled blogosphere stand next to mainstream journalism?
I really don’t feel qualified to answer that. There are way too many good news bloggers that I don’t read. I tend to concentrate on the humorous and offbeat stuff, so a lot of good journalism passes me by.

Tell us you favorite blogs across following areas:

1. Gadget:
Coolest Gadgets
Gizmodo
Geek Like Me

2. Political:
Simply Left Behind
Shakesville
Crooks and Liars

3. Movie:
Big Picture, Big Sound
Transbuddha

4. Entertainment:
Neatorama
YesButNoButYes
Bits and Pieces
Phil’s Phun
The Presurfer

6. Others:
Metafilter
Nothing to do with Arbroath
Mental Floss
Science Blogs
Damn Interesting
Cynical-C
Omegamom
Clueless in Carolina
Wulfweard the White
I could go on all day. I love a lot of blogs!

Quick bites:
1. Hours you invest surfing net: 6-8 hours a day. A bit less on weekends.
2. Biggest blogging mistake you did: I spent three years doing one post a day, when I should have done several smaller posts.
3. One hidden truth: It never pays to take yourself too seriously.
4. If asked to post only on one blog (not the current ones), which one would that be?
Hmm, that’s a hard one. Damn Interesting.
5. Advice you would have given yourself five years ago? Start writing! It’s what you’ve always wanted to do!
6. If not a bloggger then.A DJ. I was a radio announcer for 24 years.
7. Life without Internet: Lonely.
8. First gadget you kept your fingers upon: A clock! I got attached to one when I was a toddler. My mom says “clock” was my first word.

How would you like to be known as:

1. Blogger
2. Writer
3. Entrepreneur

Blogger is fine. I don’t write as much as I link. And entrepreneur is a big word for someone who doesn’t make any more money than I do.

If asked for giving three tips to a greenhorn blogger, what would that be?

1. Write about things you enjoy, or you’ll get burned out fast.
2. Don’t worry about pleasing everyone, because you can’t.
3. Make friends. They’re the best thing to come out of the internet.

What are the five things you wish to accomplish while you’re alive?

1. Raise my daughters to be strong, confident, independent women.
2. Travel the world.
3. See my grandchildren.
4. Build a retirement fund.
5. Go on a date.

Where do you see the future of blogosphere? Is there anything that you wish blogosphere to accomplish?
I love how the internet is getting so much information to people in the blink of an eye. I only wish that this kind of communication were available to everyone. I see a big dichotomy between computer users and non-computer users, which I am afraid, will only become worse. What I would like the blogosphere to accomplish is to bring people together, with communication between people of different regions and countries, so we may understand how similar we really are.

Whom would you recommend as my next EliteBlogger and Why?

Hoss at Old Horsetail Snake would be a hoot to interview. Jon Swift would also be funny. Or Jean-Luc Picard. They all have wonderfully amusing online personas.

Give us your views on EliteChoice.
This series of blogger interviews is fascinating. I’ve learned a lot about people I thought I knew!

Your turn! I am ready to answer a question for you.
Where are you?
I am currently in Las Vegas

Here, we convey all our wishes to Miss Cellania and look forward to have a birthday cake from her next year on a preplanned schedule. Thanks Celliania for fetching time from your busy routine to enthrall my audience.

If 2002 is what you witness as the beginning of blogging evolution then here is my guest Matthew Sheffield who was well-versed with blogs in 1999. When asked what invited his attention towards blogging, his ready response was: The informality, the lack of pretension, and the approachability of the medium are all things that appealed to me about blogging.

‘NewsBusters‘ can be seen as the brainchild of Matthew in alliance with Media Research Center focused upon critiquing the rest of the journalistic establishment. Read further to know more about this mainstream blogger, who has established an entity of a renowned ‘Media technology consultant’ for himself at blogosphere.

Matthew, introduce yourself to my readers and take us through your usual day at work.
I’m Matthew Sheffield and I am the creator of NewsBusters, which I run on behalf of the Media Research Center through my web consulting firm Dialog New Media. I came up with the idea of NewsBusters in 2005 after my work with RatherBiased.com which was dedicated to monitoring the reporting of Dan Rather of CBS. After Rather’s retirement, I figured it made sense to expand my efforts into critiquing the rest of the journalistic establishment so a partnership with the Media Research Center was only natural.

My typical day involves scouring the web for interesting stories, sorting through reader tips, and then blogging about stuff that interests me. I also file stuff away for a weekly column I just started writing for the Washington Times.

You are known to be the creator of the conservative form of blog sites. What led to the infusion of that spark within you and how would you define the term ‘liberal conservative?’
Before I got into blogging, I was working as a web designer and the online editor for my college paper. My brother Greg came up with the idea of doing a small web page about Dan Rather in 1999. With my background in web design, I wanted to make it a much bigger effort. As time went on after our 2000 launch, the RatherBiased.com site evolved into a blog almost instinctively for us. He’s since lost the political bug but I’m still bitten.

Liberal conservatism for me refers to a philosophy that realizes that there are some things that don’t need to change but that technology, exposure to differing cultural perspectives and experience are all things that we should partake eagerly of.

It also means being open to the idea that you don’t need to have a religious faith in order to be a good person or even to be a conservative. As someone who used to believe the opposite but now believes in no faith, I think that it’s important for people to realize that religion is a system of morality but that morality doesn’t come from religion necessarily.

You are known to be a politically minded and conservative person. Are these traits innate or developed during the course of time?
I don’t think politics is something one is born with. The average child thinks politics is boring and that is as it should be. Most of us tend to go along with the ideas that are presented to us whether by our parents, teachers, and friends. There is a lot to be gained from such encounters but in order to be fully actualized I think it requires one to examine all externally provided beliefs against those of others that may think differently.

When did you sense an inclination towards blogging? Are you satisfied with the functionality of the blogging eco-system or think there is a need for revamp?
I pretty much was blogging before there was a word for it. For me it came more naturally as an easy way to report news and express opinion on the web. The informality, the lack of pretension, and the approachability of the medium are all things that appealed to me about blogging.

I think the blog ecosystem tends to get too specialized. It’s important to engage the arguments of those with whom you disagree but on the other hand it requires more effort. I think there is room for more pan-ideological blogs which try to blend things together to foster conversation. Unfortunately that requires money and most liberal and conservative donors/groups are (probably rightfully) not interested in that so this is an area that I think that traditional MSM can fill.

How far NewsBusters is successful in offering immediate exposure of liberal media bias and neutralizing it?
Over the past three years since our launch, we’ve launched a number of stories into the national media conversation, everything from Hillary’s sniper fire, Chris Matthews’s leg thrills to just regular live TV snafus. We’ve had an impact but I will leave that to others to assess to what degree it is.

Point us to other active players in the industry practicing the similar web revolution?
A few other places I think are doing some innovative things are the Huffington Post, Pajamas Media, and Talking Points Memo.

Do you still realize the need of corrections in news media reporting? If yes, which are those?
Being accurate and fair in your reporting is the most important thing a journalist or blogger can do.

Blogs Or Media Sites. Which out of these two is more successful in maintaining the transparency and criticism expected out of media as an institution?
That depends on the site. Both bloggers and regular journalists have varying degrees of ethical standards. One thing where blogs do have somewhat of an edge is that other bloggers are less-inclined to believe you if you make assertions w/o providing evidence. Big media outlets do this on a routine basis.

The reach of your conservative media blog RatherBiased.com penetrated to an extent that it became the first Website that Google pulls up if you search for ‘Dan Rather.’ What all ingredients do you count for its unmatchable success?
It helped to have ‘Rather’ in the domain name but also that we produced a lot of content and marketed it effectively.
Tell us about your association with Dialog New Media. How does it functions and enables you support conservatives and libertarians?
Dialog New Media is a political marketing firm whose purpose is to help clients maximize the ‘bang for buck’ when it comes to messaging. We’ve found that in the Web 2.0 age, the internet is the most effective way of driving regular media because blogs are so important within newsrooms throughout the country. That’s not to say, however, that traditional media outreach and PR techniques don’t have their place. They most certainly do. The way marketing has been conducted has changed irrevocably. Luckily for us, a lot of our competitors haven’t figured that out yet.

What is your take on Traditional Journalism V/S Contemporary Journalism V/S Blogs Evolution?
I’m of the opinion that blogs are what you want them to be. If you want your blog to be a news reporting publication than you can easily do that. Unfortunately in the early days of blogging there was a widespread attitude among older media professionals that blogs were written by unemployed people lounging around in their pajamas.

That attitude exists today more than it should but by and large the ‘old media’ has learned the lesson. Every big media organization has many blogs as part of their web portfolio and most journalists consider blogs an essential part of their media diet. Lots of traditional media outlets have begun hiring bloggers in traditional positions. The New York Times hired a TV news blogger to cover the television business for it, ABC News hired former Salon.com blogger Jake Tapper as an on-air reporter, Time magazine hired a gossip blogger to be part of its Washington bureau and a number of papers such as the Hill, London’s Guardian, and my paper the Washington Times have hired bloggers as columnists.

The main conflict today in my view is that old media institutions haven’t become as transparent with their political viewpoints as they should be. While it is admirable to try to remove your personal perspectives from your coverage, a lot of times it’s just not possible. No one is that dispassionate and without a personal history. Bloggers admit that they’re human beings with perspective. Most journalists haven’t been willing to do so yet. They should.

Tell us about your ‘must-read’ or favorite blogs?
A few blogs I read regularly (besides ones I’m directly affiliated with): Ace of Spades, Patterico, FreeRepublic, Daily Kos, Matt Yglesias. There are lots of others I read on a slightly less regular basis.

Provide us with your five favorite posts you have written to date.
1. One of my favorite things to do is to get big media figures and turn the spotlight onto them. They specialize on doing it to others but oftentimes don’t like to be the subject of attention. I was able to do that with Chris Matthews a few years ago when I caught him being hypocritical on the Valerie Plame story by ignoring it after news broke that sort of shattered his grand conspiracy theory about the Bush Administration. The story got up on Drudge and that same day, Matthews broke his hypocrisy.

2. One of the more pervasive questions on the political right of late is how to modernize our public outreach mechanisms. I wrote on that last month that technology isn’t the savior that some people say but rather savvy, principled leaders at the top.

3. I’m also interested in giving wider currency to stories that got missed in the hustle-and-bustle of the news cycle. Here’s a post I wrote about how former Bush press secretary Scott McClellan changed his book from what he originally intended it to be, a defense of the president.

4. Another post illustrating the same spotlight-on-big-media approach I mentioned earlier involves an exchange I had with liberal PBS reporter Tavis Smiley who had made a series of offensive remarks about Republicans, never apologized, and then was amazed that many of them didn’t want to show up to a debate he hosted in 2007. I asked Smiley about the remarks since I knew no liberal journalist would do so.

5. This post chronicling how CNN science reporter fell asleep during a hearing about global warming presided over by Senator James Inhofe was a favorite of mine as well.

Your favorites:
1. City: Miami
2. Music: String quartets
3. Food: Too many to list
4. Book: War and Peace
5. Gadget: Smartphones
6. Color: Green
7. TV show: TBS’s ‘Burn Notice’

What are those principles that blogosphere needs to learn from mainstream media or vice versa?
Bloggers should do more original reporting and research. MSM need to be more forthright about their opinions and be more transparent about their sourcing.

How would you like to be known as?
1. Media Critic
2. Blogger
3. Entrepreneur
4. Liberal conservative
5. Writer
6. Media technology consultant

I prefer #6
Your post on Vanity fair’s Blog Map points to Vanityfair’s selection of blogs residing across four verticals viz. News, Opinion, Scurrilous and Earnest. If Matthew is asked to handpick one blog topping each vertical, which one would those be?

Within the political sphere, I would do it as follows:
News: Instapundit
Opinion: Matthew Yglesias
Scurrilous: Huffington Post
Earnest: Outside the Beltway

Where do you see the future of Blogosphere?
The future of blogs is synergy. There will continue to be personal blogs but more and more people will find out that banding together to produce content is a lot easier way to gain an audience. The MSM will continue to absorb, copy and read blogs. The number of ‘A-list’ blogs will decline as consolidation happens. If Obama wins, right-leaning blogs will become the most popular. If McCain wins, left-leaning ones will stay on top.

Quick bites:
1. Hours you invest digging net: somewhere between 4-8 hours daily

2. Biggest blogging mistake you did: Holding back from reporting on the Dan Rather CBS document story soon enough. We followed the story as it was breaking on FreeRepublic but did not want to report it until we had solid proof that CBS had been tricked. We would have retained our credibility had CBS not been tricked but we could have navigated the line a little better at first.

3. One hidden truth: People who specialize in original analysis and reporting are the people who do best in the blog world.

4. If asked to post only on one blog (neither NewsBusters nor MatthewSheffield), which one would that be? Probably Ace. He’s a friend of mine and a very sharp writer and political analyst.

5. Advice you would have given yourself five years ago? Think outside the box. There are so many opportunities out there for people who simply think of them.

6. Life without Internet: Very inconvenient!

7. Count of professions you have been into: 5

8. First post you have written: I wrote a very basic update to RatherBiased.com detailing how Dan Rather was once convinced that the George Bush 41 presidential campaign was behind the Gennifer Flowers accusation that Bill Clinton had an affair with her.

Whom would you recommend as my next EliteBloger and why?
I’d recommend talking to Josh Marshall of TPM. He has built an impressive web entity without the millions of Huffington.

Give us your views on EliteChoice.
It’s a cool site.’ Your interview series is quite divergent and wide-ranging.

Your turn! You can ask me one question. Where is my free coffee mug?
Well, you deserve more than a free coffee mug for fetching time and feeding my readers with such lovely responses. No I owe a treat to you.

We thank Matthew once again for accepting our invitation and penning down informative set of responses.

You may have noticed me capturing geeks, technophiles in a significant %age against other niche. But before you apply your judgment, let me tell you it’s not purposeful. The presence of elitebloggers here is governed by their hard-earned popularity of blogs, technorati ranking and above all the choice of elitebloggers themselves. And today we have with us William Barnes, founder, GearCrave who is geared up to carve a new level of success for his blog along with its editor Mike Payne. Lately, I happened to reach William and got the chance to scan the success secrets and future plans about his Mens Buying and Lifestyle Guide.

Here you go:

William, introduce yourself to my readers and take us through your daily flow at work.

My name is William Barnes; I am 28 years old and was born in London. I read Mechanical Engineering at University and now live in Santa Monica Los Angeles. My daily work flow normally involves trying to balance the overload of emails I get and getting to the tasks I have in TO-DO-LIST.

GearCrave doesn’t have any tagline. If asked to produce one, what would that be?

The Mens Buying and Lifestyle Guide.

Time Magazine handpicked iPhone as the invention of the year 2007. What according to you are the prospective candidates for 2008 award in the same category?

Hopefully something like the Tesla the more exposure that gets the better.

With the evolution of green houses and hybrid cars, do you think is technology really becoming green or is it a steep PR exercise?

Some are some aren’t, as with all innovation the price premium it carries is eroded over time. Hopefully mainstream acceptance is possible; VC money certainly seems to think so.

Tell us about WPBGroup. Are you the editor for all the four-sites falling under this group?

Not at all, I have trouble writing the address on a letter, Mike Payne edits GearCrave, Myke Armstrong runs Nerdyshirts and Mali Elfman is the editor for LA.CityZine. There are all-great at what they do and I am very lucky to work with them.

Japan seems to breed robots in huge numbers. Can you imagine a day when robots are efficient enough to substitute humans for all major tasks? Would you depute one to blog for you?

I can imagine a day when robots dream of electric sheep.

What do you count as one factor that attracts readers to your blog besides gamut of gadget-related blogs?

GearCrave; Mike strikes a great balance between finding really cool products every day with, insane editorials, like the GearCrave guide to buying your own missile silo, you combine that with the amazing competitions we run and I am not surprised people come back.

Nerdyshirts: Myke is always releasing sweet t-shirts, they always seem to be conversation pieces. My favorite shirt is “Too Many muth’ uckers“ I am a big Flight of the Conchords fan and every bar I go to people talk to me about the shirt.

LA.CityZine: Mali and her enormous team of writers are constantly finding the cool and quirky of LA, the amount of music and movie coverage on that site is amazing.

What are your other interests besides your work?

Football as in with your feet.

Tell us about your ‘must-read’ or favorites blogs?

Calacanis, Techcrunch, NerdyShirts, Afrojacks, HolyTaco, FluidApp, Twit.tv, Thebachelorguy, todolist.

Provide us with your five favorite posts you have written to date.

How to buy your own missile silo

Family tree T-Shirt

How to buy your own private island

Thalbach wooden USB drives

Flight of the conchords T-Shirts

You’re marooned on a desert island: What gadget you wish to have?

A teleporter?

How would you like to be known as?

Entrepreneur

Quick bites:

Hours you invest digging net: Too many

Biggest blogging mistake you did: I don’t blog

One hidden truth: Not telling

Advice you would have given yourself five years ago? Here is the internet, get on with it.

If not a blogger, then Someone like J.Calacanis or Mark Cuban

Life without Internet: Probably work either in a IT start up in London or in the movie business in LA.

First gadget you kept your fingers upon: Tabletop Donkey Kong

One thing you hate about GearCrave: I don’t hate anything about it, I have ambitions for it that are not fulfilled and we are working towards making them happen.

If asked for giving three tips to a greenhorn blogger, what would that be?

Don’t ask me, email Peter Rojas, Ryan Block or Brian Lam, those guys seem to have it down.

What new features can your savvy readers expect in coming months from GearCrave?

Big changes, by Xmas GearCrave won’t be alone, it would have changed significantly.

Besides content generation, networking comes as a part and parcel of a blogging. What are you doing at this front to maintain the popularity of your blog?

Not as much as I should, two years ago I knew nothing about the commercial side of the internet, much less about web publishing, it has been a great learning curve. The downside though of not having worked in the industry and I am very short on contacts so over the next 12 months I am going to make a concerted effort to attend more conferences and events like the techcrunch meet ups etc.

Beyond the human side GearCrave has a lot of the social networking options covered: we have a page summarizing all the ways you can follow gearcrave at.

Do you think blogs are or can be as popular as NYTimes, Time, NewsWeek are?

They already are and in some cases more so.

Where do you see the future of Blogosphere?

Consolidation of commercial blogs and the development of tools to process the second tier of sites.

Whom would you recommend as my next EliteBlogger and Why?

Definitely Cory Jones at HolyTaco, Mike at AfroJacks, or Eric at TheBachelorguy. I don’t know if they have the time, but I always love reading what they write.

Give us your views on EliteChoice.

I like the redesign, I am not sure the interview with bloggers necessarily matches the consumer female demographic that your ads are aimed at, but then I am guessing they are good for link building.

You can ask me one question.

Why do cats hate me?

Possibly, you may have lately developed a soft corner for dogs as well-:)

Here i thank William for giving us an insight about his blog and wish him luck for its upcoming features.

Ask any blogger running an established blog the number of posts he features during a day, supporting hands behind it, editors on job and you may not be wrong anticipating an overt two-digit response. But there is always an exception, which in this case is well exemplified by WebUrbanist. One post a day, five authors, one lead editor is the master plan behind the success of WebUrbanist.

Kurt Kohlstedt, Founder & Lead Editor, WebUrbanist stands firm on their policy of featuring one-article-per-day, identifying the want of quality over quantity. Besides this jumbo post, Kurt keeps himself engaged working on spinoffs and ways to tie together various articles and plugging in more valuable features following the rule of thumb: “Interesting, extreme, random, funny, obscure and otherwise sensational content.”

After a long oration, I propose you to read further to know more about Kurt and his Urbanist Den.

Introduce yourself to my readers and take us through your urban flow of day at work.
My name is Kurt Kohlstedt and I am the primary founder and leader editor of WebUrbanist, a weird and (hopefully) wonderful weblog about everything urban (culture, design, architecture art, travel and more) and some things that aren”t.

I used to be the primary author for the site but as it has grown we have brought a number of new writers on board and with them a healthy diversity of styles and subjects. I usually start my day as most people probably do: by checking my email. Back when it used to crash regularly, however, my first task was always to make sure the site wasn”t down.

We have a strict one-article-per-day policy having to do with quality over quantity so I generally go over the article of the day one last time and publish it sometime during the day, moderate comments and come up with new and (hopefully) brilliant ideas for future posts, spinoffs or ways to tie together various articles or entirely new functions and features for the site. I try to answer site emails regularly but I often get behind (sorry readers!) particularly when I”m traveling. I spend much of my day working on other odds and ends including helping on other sites and working on other projects.

When did you sense an inclination towards blogging? When was WebUrbanist introduced to blogosphere?
I started dabbling with blogging early in 2007 when a friend put WordPress up on a random domain I purchased for no particular purpose. Once I started to get actual traffic and readership I tested out various kinds of content to find a balance of what I enjoyed writing about and what people enjoyed reading about. With that in mind I together with few interested friends started WebUrbanist in the middle of 2007. It became clear fairly quickly that I was the most interested in the project so for many months I was the primary author on the site.

Why your blog reflects only the urban side of design, culture, travel, architecture and alternative art and not lifestyle, inventions or technology?
There are actually three answers:
(1) There actually are some elements of lifestyle and technology on the site, they just aren”t the primary focus per say.
(2) You can only cover so much. Even with the topics already covered the site is fairly broadly niched compared to many other major weblogs. This is both a plus and a minus it means there are always new ideas but it also lacks some focus.
(3) My own background is in architecture and design and I personally love to travel so in some respects the choice to focus on those reflects my own interests and knowledge.

What is number of posts you deliver on daily basis and are you the sole contributor or you have the support of more hands?
We used to produce only two to three long and thorough articles per week. More recently we have moved to publishing approximately one post per day with some exceptions. We are moving toward a more regular schedule right now where we will have ongoing series running on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and feature articles running on Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Currently there are five authors who contribute to the site. We are looking to put up a bio page to tell more about our authors in the near future.

What according to you is an ideal form of art?
I used to think that architecture was the highest form of art the blending of art and science to create beautiful and useful things. In some ways I still do see it that way but perhaps in a broader sense or on a larger scale. Now I might say something like cities as a whole are the most brilliant art form. They are collectively produced expressions of our needs, desires and wills. Every one is unique and reflects the character of those who inhabit and build it.

The post “Urban Abandonments: 7 Deserted Wonders of the (Post)Modern World” is really interesting. I am curious what led to the development of such a well-woven and meaty piece?
Ah I see you dug down deep into the archives and found the original 7 Wonders article. That was simply a strange spark of inspiration. I have always been fascinated by abandonments and wanted some weighty title to convey the magnitude and impressiveness of such structures and ancient and modern wonders of the world came to mind. That article was the genesis of what has become without a doubt the most popular series of all time on WebUrbanist. Subsequent articles covered abandoned wonders of particular parts of the world as well as other non-abandoned wonders of the world. Still, it comes back to that first article it was one of the first on WebUrbanist to become truly popular all around the Internet.

At weburbanist, we are fed with a timely dose of 7-wonders across diverse categories. What do you count as 7-wonders of weburbanist?

I have a real fondness for the country-and-continent-specific articles from the seven wonders series (the United States, the former Soviet Union and Europe) as well as articles dealing with design and alternative art in general from amazing tree houses and strange transforming furniture to strange street graffiti and mysterious graffiti artists:

10 Amazing Tree Houses from Around the World: Sustainable, Unique and Creative Designs

7 More Abandoned Wonders of the World: Amazing American Abandonments

7 Abandoned Wonders of the Former Soviet Union: Deserted Cities, Buildings, Bases and More

7 Abandoned Wonders of the European Union: From Deserted Castles to Retrofuturistic Factories

10 (More) Pieces of Clever Transforming Furniture: From Tetris Tables to Rooms in a Box

3 Amazing 3D Graffiti Artists: Street Painting and Sidewalk Chalk Art

The Banksy Paradox: 7 Sides of the World’’s Most Infamous Street Artist

Tell us about your ”must-read” or favorite blogs?
DarkRoastedBlend, Neatorama and MentalFloss are certainly toward the top of that list. Not only is the content on each amazing but the people writing for and/or running each are awesome as well. DarkRoastedBlend never ceases to amaze me. I am exceedingly jealous of Avi’’s uncanny ability to find tons of sources and images related to the most obscure and strange subjects. Neatorama provides an excellent blend of original content and updates about unusual content found elsewhere on the web. MentalFloss as a really interesting hodgepodge of interesting facts, funny lists and all kinds of other stuff. Each site has also been critical to helping WebUrbanist become the successful site it is today. LifeIntheFastLane.ca and Deputy-Dog are also favorites and also run by awesome individuals with a real passion for blogging strange stuff. I could go on but the list would never end.

Provide us with your three favorite posts you have written to date.
A few of them are already listed above (they would be 7 Wonders articles). However, there is one not listed that I would very much like to single out. This article was not very successful and I have remained somewhat disappointed that it didn”t enjoy broader circulation. I think it is perhaps something that is more of a personal favorite and something I perhaps shouldn”t have expected people without geekish obsessions with obscure abandonments to appreciate: Creatively converted sea forts of great britain strange adaptive reuse of military architecture.

What remains your criterion for selection of post to be played at your blog?
It should fit in at least two or three of the general categories listed on the sidebar and has to fit some basic image/text rhythms we have set up for the site. As a rule of thumb we shoot for interesting, extreme, random, funny, obscure and otherwise sensational content. We aim to entertain above anything else but also to inform along the way.

Avi of DarkRoastedBlend: Have you ever been a graffiti artist?
Hah, amazingly no the graffiti aspect of the site was inspired by someone else who worked on WebUrbanist early on though I have since become quite interested and written a lot on the subject. I have however done a fair bit of urban exploration (just don”t tell the authorities).

Do you think green homes are the wave of future in home building, considering the fact that a green home usually has much higher material and construction costs than a standard home? Don”t you think green home will be out of reach for many of us?
I believe green design really is the future. Right now, particularly in the United States, people have become accustomed to absolutely horrific building quality. Many people buy buildings that, over time, will cost them far more in repairs and energy costs than a building properly built up front would cost. Also, as the environment becomes an increasingly front-page issue the costs of going green will go down and in all likelihood buildings will have to meet higher standards across the board, which, in turn, will also make builders more aware of ways to go green more easily. In short: I absolutely believe green homes will become more affordable and even if they cost more up front that cost will be offset down the line.

Is there is any running blog with a similar niche or you enjoy the monopoly of the game?
I don”t think there are any other sites out there with the same strange blend as WebUrbanist. The favorite sites I listed above are all similar-but-different. I think this might be in part because of my own background again I love strange and interesting stuff of all kinds but I am also trained as an architect and urban designer, which focus my bizarre fascinations in that direction.

How would you like to be known as:
a) Urbanist b)Blogger c) Writer d) Graffiti Artist
I absolutely love the fact that WebUrbanist ranks 1 on Google searches for the term ”urbanist” which is itself not a real word. If ”urbanist” were a title like ”architect” the site might be misleading as it stands, though, I like to think that WebUrbanist is part of the definition now of an entirely manufactured term. In addition to that my passion is cities and that is also included in my imaginary definition of ”urbanist.”

Quick bites:
a) Biggest blogging mistake you did: Not finding better hosting sooner
b) One hidden truth: There is no such thing as an urbanist
c) If asked to post only on one blog (besides WEBURBANIST), which one would that be? Very interesting question. I really like ReadWriteWeb for providing intelligent content for web geeks and wouldn”t mind adding my thoughts to that sometime.
d) Advice you would have given yourself five years ago? Be patient and don”t expect to succeed quickly know what you are getting yourself into.
e) If not a blogger then. An architect
f) Life without Internet: Probably a lot less stressful
g) You take inspiration from? Little tidbits I find online and the city that surrounds me
h) One thing you dislike about weburbanist: It loads too damned slowly anyone wants to sponsor us for a dedicated server?

If asked to give three tips to a novice blogger, what would that be?
Know what you want up front: fame, fortune or satisfaction
Reach out to other people who are successful they are usually nice folks
Don”t expect your first blog to be the one you end up writing on a year from now

Whom would you recommend as my next EliteBlogger and Why?
Deborah Peterson and of LifeInTheFastLane.ca would be a great choice she has so much enthusiasm for what she does and that is the essence of what it takes to succeed. She is also a genuinely awesome person as well as being similarly fascinated with the strangest of things.

Give us your views on EliteChoice.
You ask a great blend of questions this is probably more information, for example, than people can find about WebUrbanist than people can find pretty much anywhere else on the web.

Your turn! I am ready to answer a question for you.
What is the funniest or strangest answer you have ever gotten in an interview?
Well, there are many. But one such commonality is well-expressed in my routine question: If not a blogger thenI am surprised to see the ”other” side of their personality they wish to don.

And here I thank Kurt for his kind participation and doing the needful. Wish you luck Kurt for your future endeavors.

The big question that remains unanswered even after ages has found a challenger today. Yes, following the enduring mystery behind egg and chicken’s birth, it is impossible to answer whether Web 2.0 has led to the evolution of search engine optimization (SEO) or search engine optimizers have discovered Web 2.0. But let’s not discuss the impracticality now as we have Neil Patel, a deserving elite blogger with us today. Neil is fortunate to have experienced diverse traits of business (SEO and Web 2.0) during his graduation days and today is found engaged amidst Pronet Advertising, ACS Social Media Optimization Agency, QuickSprout, CrazyEgg and holds a strong view point about social media.

Roll over to know more about Neil, a perfect example of a young and successful entrepreneur.

Neil, kindly introduce yourself to my readers and take us through your usual day at work?

I am the CTO at ACS . My usual workday consists of talking with clients, managing employees, and talking with potential clients. When I have spare time I try and write a blog post or two.

Other than that, there isn’t much more to Neil Patel. I finally graduated from college, which means work is my life. When I am not working, I am usually watching TV, eating, sleeping, or traveling.

What led to the inception of ACS? Why you named it as ACS?

I started ACS with my brother-in-law in 2003. The main reason for starting it was that people I knew needed help with SEO, so I thought I would create a company that would provide the service.

As for the name, I have no clue on why it was picked. The easy answer was that my business partner and I were typing random stuff into Godaddy.com and it recommended Advantage Consulting Services. We decided to pick it because we couldn’t come up with anything better and it started with ACS, which means it would be at the top of most business directories. Sooner or later we realized the name was too long, so we changed our name to ACS.

What strategies do you follow to promote a particular website as a part of providing Internet marketing services?

There are a lot of strategies I would follow, but here are a few:

1. Have a good product or service first. A good marketer can’t market crap.

2. Write great content. As we all know, content is king. The more you have, the more links and traffic you will get.

3. On page SEO. It is amazing on the traffic increases you can get from modifying your website code/structure.

4. Link building. You can never have enough quality links.

When did you venture into blogging and why? Is growing traffic or link building the indicator of a blog’s success?

I ventured into blogging around 2 years ago. I did it because I wanted to share my knowledge with others. I measure a blog success by traffic, links, and RSS subscribers. Once you figure out your blogs stats, you then want to compare them to your competition and see how you stack up.

Is it important to have an individual identity of a blog or run it as a form of a community/network?

Ideally you want both. A blog should have an individual identity, but you also want a community around your blog. If you are able to do both then you will succeed in the blogging world.

Having carved a success story for yourself by establishing ACS and holding the flag of CTO for the company, do you still feel the need to continue with your bachelor’s degree?

I don’t think it is important, but I just graduated. I only had 1 class left for over a year, so I decided to finish it so I could get my degree.

How active are you on social networking sites/engines viz. Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon or Reddit? Which one of them is the great traffic-puller?

I used to be very active on all of them, but do to my traveling schedule I am not active on them anymore. The best traffic puller for me is either Digg or Yahoo Buzz.

Do you think RSS feeds will have a great future?

I think RSS feeds will have a future because they make life easier. Instead of going to thousands of sites to read their content, you can now do all of this through RSS.

What are your daily-reads or favorite blogs?

Everyday I visit TechCrunch, Gigaom, and Venturebeat. There are tons of other blogs I read, but these are the three I read most frequently.

Pen down five favorite posts written by you till date

This is a tough one because I am not sure if I really wrote any great posts. Either way here are my 5 favorite posts I have ever written:

Little is the new big: Why you shouldn’t brush off the little guy

What Does Your Business Card Say About You?

Whose Shadow Are You Standing In?

It’s on me!

How to be as famous as a porn star. (Without taking off your clothes)

Blogging has moved from experimental to mainstream. What social or technical features would you like to see enter the world of blogging?

Tough question because I am not 100% sure on the exact features I am looking for. None-the-less, I know that I want blogs to become more social. Ideally as a blog owner I would like to put a face on every visitor that visits my blog. I know MyBlogLog does something similar, but it doesn’t do it for every visitor and it doesn’t provide as many stats as I would like.

If asked to give three tips to a novice blogger, what would those be?

Write great content, write great content, and write great content. I truly feel that content is the most important thing for a novice blogger to concentrate on. But if you want three different tips I would recommend: write great content, create a conversation with your readers, and create baity content.

How would you like to be known as?

Technophile

Writer

Blogger

Young Entrepreneur

SEO expert

I would love to be known as all and hopefully I will one day.

Quick bites:

Hours you invest digging net: Used to be 2 hours a day, now 5 minutes a day.

Biggest blogging mistake you did: Writing content for the sole purpose of increasing my traffic instead of writing content to provide value to others.

One hidden truth: One way my blogs became popular is that I had other popular bloggers blog about my blog and tell their readers to subscribe to my RSS feed.

If asked to post only on one blog (not PRONetAdvertising), which one would that be? Quicksprout.com, my latest blog.

Advice you would have given yourself five years ago? Write more detailed blog posts.

If not a blogger or SEO expert then venture capitalist.

Life without Internet: I would do something related to television or film.

First SEO project you took: Elpac.com

What are your interest areas besides networking, software, technology and the Internet?

I love anything related to television and films. One of my first jobs was working at Hollywood video and to this day it was my favorite job. Other than that I love basketball.

Your clientele includes TechCrunch, AOL and many others. What chief services you have delivered to them and how was experience in working with the major players in the internet industry?

Most of the services delivered to them were related to SEO and helping them increase their search traffic. It was fun working with them, not only because they are great companies, but they also taught me a lot about their space.

Give us your views on EliteChoice.

EliteChoice seems like a cool blog and concept. I think it will do well as long as you can figure out how to create more buzz about it.

Whom would you recommend as my next EliteBlogger and Why?

If you already have not interviewed him, I would recommend Stephen Spencer. He is a great Internet marketer, entrepreneur, and father.

You can ask me one question.

What is your goal by interviewing all the top bloggers?

Two reasons! To bring all elite bloggers under a single umbrella wherein they can share and learn from each-others’ experiences. And secondly, I am hoping that the community of elite bloggers would offer lot of meat to evolving bloggers, hence making the blogging medium as strong as any other form of media.

We thank Neil for sparing time for our readers and wish him luck in his journey to explore more hidden geographies.

We are running in 2008 and if we sit back and recall the evolution of blogging almost eight-years ago and measure its deliverables then the medium has achieved unrivaled success. And thanks to bloggers who now find themselves addicted to the system. Cherishing the tendency to get addicted to the blogging mechanism, here comes another addictive blog with a difference. Curious what am talking about I am in a addicted mode huh..and to give you a dope is the face behind Dark Roasted Blend (DRB)– Avi Abrams.

Avi, founder and writer, DRB offers a good coffee-break and visually its a feast for those tiring eyes, sick of being glued to PC for long stressful nine-hours. Likewise Jen, associate editor, PCMag is the weird hunter of technology world, it wont be fallacious to christen Avi as the weird hunter of the lively routine world minus politics, religion and celebrities. DRB has an eternal relation with “Thrilling Wonder Stories” science fiction adventure pulp and hence having made up amongst top 300 technorati blogs and standing at No.8 in the compilation of the most popular Blogger powered blogs, it is overt for Avi to be my Weird yet wonderful elite blogger

Roll over to know more about efforts invested for the current appealing form of DRB:

Avi, kindly introduce yourself to my readers’ and take us through your usual day at work.
I am the owner of the website “Dark Roasted Blend“, a fun place online devoted to all things “weird and wonderful” that you can check out during your coffee break – so it’s a safe-for-work, highly visual environment… like a large-format coffee table book. Read here to learn more.

My wife and I have two sons, aged 8 and 2, so my typical day at work consists of finding some actual time to do some actual work. We also travel an awful lot, so finding a place with a good wireless connection is part of the job. In the past I’ve been a computer animator, music video editor, electronics engineer, played in a rock band and wrote some science fiction – so I guess I am used to juggling various activities.

When did you sense an inclination towards blogging? Are you satisfied with the functionality of the blogging eco-system or think there is a need for revamp?
I wanted to start a site that would provide quality online entertainment, without low-brow profanities and/or haughty agendas.

A happy place, full of the “sense of wonder” and discoveries about our world and beyond. The internet in general is an awesome compendium of fascinating things (take Wikipedia, for example), but many people do not have time to wade through user-submitted content and various aggregator sites. They just need a “daily dose of awesome”, short and sweet. DRB provides just that.

Our articles, however, tend to be more in-depth than just a few links and an image. We provide a new themed article every other day – and in that we are different from link-aggregator sites like BoingBoing or Neatorama.

Elitechoice team is a savvy visitor of “weird and wonderful things” covered here. What made you expand this idea?
The fact that many people today have a broadband connection and can enjoy larger-format images together with a thought-provoking article. We try to combine great textual info and mind-blowing visuals in one package – all on one page. You can call it an “added-value content” concept, with a good measure of fun. It’s certainly fun to put together our daily posts. It’s also fun to read cool and educated comments we get on every article.

How do you define “”weird and wonderful things”?
I don’t. They are weird and wonderful – surprising and wild. You cannot “tame” or define “the sense of wonder”. One thing we guarantee, however – we steer away from crass, profane and idiotic, no matter how sensational it might be. Think of it as large-format “LIFE” magazine, devoid of politics, religion and celebrities, married with “Thrilling Wonder Stories” science fiction adventure pulp.

What remains the criterion of selecting a prospective post on a particular day considering the blog covers diverse random subjects?
I have an associate hamster editor, that gets either excited or not about any particular post. Judging by how agitated it becomes, and the speed of hamster wheel rotation – the post either gets selected or dumped into “Fark /College Humor” pile. I noticed that the hamster does not get excited about various political agendas, cynicism, dark horror or pointless displays of angst. It likes exploration, photography, art, cool technology, beer, cheese and intense deep poetry.

What initiatives do you make to maintain the consistency of the popularity gained by DRB?
We keep posting on a regular basis, looking around various international sites for cool things (not just English-based, but also many Japanese, Russian, Israeli and Dutch sites). If the day would have 48 hours, you would have twice as much cool content on DRB. But we’re also looking at expanding our writer base.

Tell us about your ‘must-read’ or favorite blogs?
I totally love Neatorama, WebUrbanist, DeputyDog, Fogonazos, Modern Mechanix, DamnInteresting. Recently Reddit became more manageable resource, as you can now filter out the content you don’t want, and it moves much faster than Digg. Basically every site on our blogroll is great to visit: some coolest favorites include Bldgblog, Ectoplasmosis, PreSurfer, Treehugger, PaleoFuture and the list is endless.

Provide us with your five favorite posts you have written to date.
Kindly visit Most Popular/Hidden Gems, it lists our favorite DRB articles, and even cites the coolest stuff on internet we discovered during last year. It’s hard to chose, as I strive to make every post “the best” and do not publish it if I’m not completely happy.

What other areas interest you besides blogging?
DRB has sister sites: Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Experience, also our music recordings, travel photos and surreal writing. I try to play some groovy keyboards regularly and carve out more time for reading.

How would you like to be called as:

* Blogger
* Graphic designer
* 3D artist
* Writer
* Entrepreneur

None of these. I’m just looking for wisdom and beauty, everywhere it takes me. Plus, I am my kid’s dad, ‘enough said.

Quick bites:

Hours you invest digging net: I spend 8 hours a day running the site – it’s important to limit it to only 8 hours.
Biggest blogging mistake you did: Reading too many Reddit and Digg comments.
If not a blogger/writer, then. Song composer in the good old Merseybeat style.
Life without Internet: Ask the Amish, they seem to like it.
Number of bloggers behind DRB: I run the site and write the majority of posts, but we have contributions from 3 to 5 other writers.

What is that weirdest thing you have featured over at DRB?
The one thing too gross and weird to feature on DRB, so we had to publish it elsewhere is “Trepanation open up your mind, or…not!”. That has got to be the most shocking article ever written.

Is there any subject/area left for a prospective blog that a novice blogger can venture into?
Just follow your heart, and all comments / opinions be damned.

Whom would you recommend as my next EliteBlogger and why?
DeputyDog seems to be an interesting character, or the guy behind WebUrbanist.

Give us your views on EliteChoice.
Good job you do here. A wonderful outlet to feature some internet personalities who all too often remain inside their blogging caves.

You can ask me one question.
The name Zola sounds Italian… do you often visit Europe?
Not very often and I consider blogging addiction as a biggest obstacle to my earlier persona of a Rover. And I feel contented with my present role.

I thank Avi for sparing time for us and wish him luck for taking DRB to new, weird and wonderful levels of success.

Blogging has earned success in revolutionizing the functionality of the Internet ecosystem. Whilst there were days when search engines like Google and Yahoo use to dominate the homepage but current scenario makes more sense and befits the niche-needs of a person.Engadget, the daddy of technology-driven blogs ruling blogosphere is now seen as the homepage of many geeks’ desktop. No, that’s not a technology bug but a conscious move. And holding the flag high is Ryan Block, editor-in-chief, Engadget who marked fourth anniversary of his stay here this month.

Currently residing in San Francisco, California with Veronica Belmont (his girlfriend) and two cats, Ryan shares that writing for a site like Engadget isn’t as easy as it looks and at the same time it’s even more fun than one would expect.

Technophiles are familiar with Ryan’s voice (remarkable reach of his weekly podcast initiative), bloggers are fond of his coverage of products and events and Media doesn’t take a step back in recognizing and appreciating the efforts he delivers from time-to-time (was honored as one of the Forbes’s 2007 Web Celeb 25) but unfortunately if you aren’t familiar with the he behind Ryan then allow yourself to go through this interesting read about Ryan Block, Engadget, Technology, CES, Blogging & Veronica Belmont.

Introduce yourself to my readers and take us through your usual day at work?

Well, one of the best things about doing what we do is no two days are ever alike. Even after four years there’s nothing monotonous in writing about technology. That isn’t to say it isn’t difficult and a grind — because it is, and we all work really long hours — but there is always something interesting happening in the tech world, and the crew at Engadget is guaranteed to keep it lively. I think I’ve only taken one vacation and called in sick once or twice since I started Engadget — I just can’t stay away.

When did you join AOL (earlier Weblogs Inc.)? Take us through the journey of your entry into the network as a reporter and then becoming current editor-in-chief after taking it from founder Pete Rojas.

I started in June of 2004; Engadget was three months old then. We were acquired by AOL in October of 2005, and I actually became, to the best of my knowledge, one of the (if not THE) first bloggers hired full-time (and with full benefits, etc.) by a major media company. There were lots of bloggers then, and lots of professional writers’ blogging, but I think we were on the first wave to cross the threshold of bloggers as media. Pete and I had always worked really closely on the site, so I think we were both pretty comfortable with my eventually taking the mantle. It’s a little different now, of course, but I’m just as proud of what we’ve accomplished since Pete moved on.

What is the number of hands engaged in delivering 24×7 updates at Engadget? Don’t you think the full-time involvement into blogs is more demanding than a regular 9-hours job?

More than a dozen on the US sites, and dozens for our various translations worldwide. It is absolutely more demanding than most jobs, and the expectation is that as news breaks at any hour of the day; it ought to be up within minutes. Granted, we helped set that expectation over the years, so I’m not exactly complaining.

Tell us about five of your �daily-reads’ or favorites blogs?

I’m a big fan of well-run and executed aggregators, so the top of my feeds are sites like Techmeme and BuzzFeed. I also geek out on stuff like Joystiq, Alley Insider, and quirkier stuff like PhotoshopDisasters.

We are impressed with your speedy coverage of CES. Which electronic product from CES 2008 invited your attention the most?

Probably the Optimus Maximus — I got one shortly after CES, it’s unbelievable. Not very practical, but very well done!

And what are your expectations’ from CES 2009?

Lots and lots of products. Very little sleep.

Engadget and Gizmodo are undoubtedly the Wall Street Journal and New York Times of the techblogosphere. Did you ever felt the sense of rivalry with your peers or take it as an alarm that makes you always stand on toes feeding your readers with the latest updates?

I think the supposed rivalry gets played up because people really like that kind of a story, whether or not it’s actually real. There was a time after Peter left Gizmodo where, for a few years, they weren’t really trying to play the game like we were — constant, timely updates; even when they weren’t trying to outdo us, we were pushing ourselves to provide the best possible coverage to our readers. I try not to get too caught up in the specifics though, it doesn’t really benefit anyone. There are a lot of other sites out there, you know?

Can you imagine a day when Gizmodo an Engadget merge to offer a wider platform before technology-driven audience? Isn’t be possibility sensible?

No, I don’t really ever see that happening from a business and ownership standpoint. It probably wouldn’t be good, anyway — the two sites have very different styles and objectives, and any time you take away competition the consumer (in this case, the reader) suffers.

Introduce us to your three gadgetry possessions that you can’t afford to miss while stepping out.
I really only take out my phone (which is an iPhone right now; my last phone was an HTC Hermes) and sometimes my camera (depends on which I’m using at the time). I don’t carry a lot of devices with me if I can help it.

Tell us about your experience co-hosting a weekly podcast. Is podcasting the need of future and can bring revolution?

It was one of my favorite parts of Engadget, but it’s hard to do well without taking a lot of time. I’m looking forward to podcasting again in the future.

Quick bites:

Biggest blogging mistake you did: There have been many! It’s a constant learning experience, and I think I’ve grown a lot personally and professionally in the last few years.

One hidden truth: Writing for a site like Engadget isn’t as easy as it looks — but it’s even more fun than one would expect.

If asked to post only on one blog (not Engadget), which one would that be? Ryanblock.com

Advice you would have given yourself five years ago? Never underestimate the influence of Engadget.

If not a blogger, then I used to be a sysadmin, but that takes an entirely different kind of masochist. Maybe one day I’ll retire into design.

How long could you survive without the internet: As long as I need to, I don’t have a hard time unplugging.

One thing you hate about Engadget: The hours and constant pressure.

Count of professions you have been into: Three.

First gadget you kept your fingers upon: Perhaps the NES.

How would you like to be known as? Technology writer and editor.

If asked for giving three tips to a greenhorn blogger, what would that be?

Start writing, keep writing (even when the initial luster has worn off, even if you’re not collecting droves of readers), and with any luck you’ll hone your skill and catch your break.

They say blogosphere (especially tech-blogs) is a male dominated society. What is your take on this?

I don’t know if I entirely agree with that; yeah, sometimes it seems there are more men in tech than women, but I don’t really feel like the ladies are locked out. It kind of bums me out that there aren’t more active female gadget writers, because we’ve been really lacking that at Engadget for quite some time now.

Is it good to have an individual identity of a blog or run it as a part of a community?

Depends on you, your goals, your subject matter, etc. There’s no one answer.

Whom would you recommend for being featured as my next EliteBlogger?

Veronica Belmont

At the end, I daren’t skip Ryan’s interesting engagement with iPhone’s history as he covered the birth of the Apple iPhone, from the earliest anecdote of its existence in 2004 to what he considers the ultimate review in 2007 and counts it as his small personal triumph. We thank Ryan for such an interesting set of responses and wish him luck to take Engadget to another level of success.