Blogging Made EasierBlogging Made Easier

From General Motors vice chairman Bob Lutz to Oakland, Calif., mayor Jerry Brown, everyone, it seems, has a blog these days. Maybe your company's employees want to have Web logs, too. But blogging software often assumes a knowledge of Web programming to use advanced features, and putting multimedia in blog posts often requires a variety of applications.

Two upcoming software packages could address those problems. Bubbler from Five Across Inc. lets users post--with no HTML--photos, video, audio, Office files, and text by dragging and dropping icons into a Windows or Mac application. Vlog It from Serious Magic Inc. lets users create video-enhanced Web logs, which its creator calls "vlogs," by talking into a Web camera, then enhancing the spiel with pro-style graphics and transitions.

Both were previewed at the Demo@15 conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., last month and were among the best received by the audience of journalists and venture capitalists. But they're up against widely used and better financed products such as Google's Blogger, Six Apart's Movable Type, and Microsoft's MSN Spaces.

Bubbler can unify the way bloggers post text, video clips, and audio recordings made for iPods, or "podcasts," according to Five Across, a startup founded by a former Apple engineering manager. Users can post Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents, Adobe PDF documents, and multimedia files to a blog, as well as link to other sites, without typing any HTML code. A "court reporter" lets text typed in an instant messaging-style window appear immediately on a blog. It does that through a new protocol called SXTP, which lets users work in a Windows or Mac client instead of a Web browser.

Bubbler, in testing now, is slated to ship by May. PC or Mac users can sign up for a hosted version from Five Across; a "work group" version for Windows, Mac, or Linux also will be available.

Vlog It, available in April or May, lets users import the script for a video Webcast, then read along with an on-screen prompter while being shot by a Web cam or camcorder. Dropping pictures or additional audio and video clips onto portions of the script will play or show that content on cue. Serious Magic, which makes video-editing software for businesses and schools, also built in the ability to add TV-style titles and effects.

Vlog It and Bubbler may not upend the way blogs are done, but they could open them up to more users.