You’ve got to admit that blogs that give you visuals help ease the “text only” versions, and tonight I was lucky to come across a free to join website called Acobox.

Sort of along the Flickr line, Acobox gives you free signup access as either a blogger or a photographer (actually as a blogger I do see I have the ability to upload images to their site).

Then you just go hunting for interesting pictures they call “hotlinks.”

For example, you’re looking at one right now.

It was very easy to get and insert, too – don’t you just love that!

This particular image came from their Animals Gallery under Birds, which lists 316 additional images. And, of course if you opt to add yours into their system, just think of the advantages of having your images hotlinked on other peoples websites and blogs.

The only trouble I seem to be having is what I see inside the wp-admin is space between the picture and my words. Outside on the blog, the words hug tight to the image. I’ve tried playing with the horizontal alignment, but it doesn’t seem to do much of anything (sorry I’m a bit of a stickler, but I’m sure there is a workaround for this).

Oh and as the title tells you, this isn’t just for bloggers. Website owners can come to Acobox and get their images, for free, too!

So don’t be shy. Again sign up is free, and I had this image inserted in the blink of an eye.

Enjoy!

After reading our friend and fellow Whole-Hog-Blogger, Judy at More Than Sew So and her current (at this time) post Who Is This Man, today I figured presenting some educational and highly enlightening new sources might be a better way to serve our Sunday readers (and beyond).

So I’ve compiled a short list of highly rated, highly regarded blogs whose sole purpose is to present news – current event style – on what’s really going on in Washington, as well as great pieces about the entertainment industry, sports, etc.

Here is the list:

The Daily Beast
Ana Marie Cox, writer and featured speaker on MSNBC news
The Huffington Post

Granted one must have an OPEN mind to read the above. I’ve heard them take all sides on all issues versus some out there that are strictly “old guard” trying valiantly to uphold that which clearly a majority of our nation turned down – emphatically – in November and celebrated – joyously – just a few days ago in Washington, D.C.

No one knows the future, but heading into the future without a plan, and flying on the old “wing and a prayer (and screw your fellow citizens) plan” obviously did not work. Wanting to stick to the same – for reasons unknown, but perhaps it is the “unknown” that scares some people – has moved our great country more than giant steps backward not forward.

My mind reels actually to hear most of what comes out of these news sources not because it’s BS, but what our government believes it can get away with (and until recently has) – and as We The People, we have let them.

I should at this point mention my two favorite news shows (television) which are programs over at MSNBC:

Countdown With Keith Olbermann and
The Rachel Maddow Show

But before I close, in the interest of maintaining a fuller spectrum of where to get your news, if you’re dead set on getting just the rhetoric of the die-hard GOP base, and feel it necessary to cling tenuously to the past, here are a few news sources online just for you:

Thinkgprogress.org (a misnomer, not much on “progress” but worth a laugh), along with FoxNews (which originally aired The Simpsons – a creative and very much “progressive” cartoon show for its time – but showed its true colors very early on – lopsided and biased and staunchly right winged – way right)

Enjoy your Sunday, and remember….

Give us your opinions – it is a free country let alone a “free” internet – your comments most welcome! Please comment!

Okay, today we started out the day in confusion…

Today was suppose to be THE launch date, so like the anxious to get started individuals we are, we arrived at the website at our appointed hour – only to find prelaunch has been pushed back a week (giving YOU plenty of time to still signup for free).

However, thankfully, we’ve got someone up above us keeping tabs on what’s what, and he’s super fast in answering any questions we might have – like where the heck is the upgrade button and/or email that was to arrive today LOL! The answer is…

Webprosperity has pushed back its launch date for an additional week giving you plenty of time to get signed up for free.

You Asked For It…Founders Launch Extended 7 Days
Posted – January 6th, 2009

I have been barraged with calls and e-mails for the last 24 hours by team members asking for an extension to the pre-launch. With the momentum of over 10,600 sign-ups yesterday it is evident the momentum is picking up with new team members.

The Founders Launch is extended till January 13, 2009-thats 7 days from today and that date is final!

Now make the next 7 days the biggest marketing days of your live.

Regards… David D’Arcangelo,

This is a great thing for anyone who hasn’t already signed up for the FREE prelaunch. We, however, were looking forward to getting the tools (at a heavy discount) today… but it will be worth the wait!

Once it does launch, Scott and I will be able to consolidate many of our 3rd party marketing tools into one – with what we average will be a 50% monthly savings for ourselves.

These are tools you have to use – not because some slick, useless sales letter talked you into it – but because you cannot run a business online without them. Plain and simple.

The price once it launches is very reasonable, and again while it remains in prelaunch, your sign up is still currently FREE.

With marketing must-have tools, and 67% to you off the top for Level 1 downline (and more as your downline grows), get signed up and hold your prelaunch position! And start spreading the news! Time is running out.

After making our post for January 3, it was off to my favorite forums. That’s where I found six tools mentioned by Owen that he loved using in 2008.

The one that caught my eye is Zemanta, an add-on to your Firefox browser that automatically recognizes your wordpress and/or blogger blogs. It’s a tool that’s going to help suggest photos, videos, articles, etc., related to what you’re writing about – all done from inside your admin area.

Here’s an example:

Related articles by Zemanta

• Twitter Is Stealing Your Password

What the example above shows is something Zemanta considered “related to” the rest of the information in this post (see below about Twitter).  There are many items to choose from, but I just picked this one – all from inside the admin area of this blog.

After installing (and it’s quick and painless and yes I did read the terms of service first), you’ll end up on the welcome page where you’ll get instructions on “how to get started right away” using this super cool tool!

A big thanks to Owen for sharing this and five other tools (one of which he created himself).

Excellent!

And, for those of you wondering why your WordPress Twitter Updater plugin no longer works, well we don’t currently have the answer to that… However, TwitterBar 1.1 may be your easiest solution.

It’s been available since November 1, 2008, tried and tested. Just be sure you know what you’ve got typed in your address bar before you Twitter it. It can be words, the link of the page you’re on, whatever. So double check first

(The Firefox logo was also pulled in using Zemanta.)

A second alternative to get your feeds posted directly to your Twitter account (though the toolbar above is very cool), is TwitterFeed

TwitterFeed requires you to create an OpenSource id. Just be prepared to validate your signup via email AND be adept at picture recognition – the  process is a tad long while you “guess the picture” during the account creation process.

What TwitterFeed will do is, depending on your setting choices, take a peek at your blog feed and post the last “x” amount you designate at the time interval you ask it to check. While that may sound confusing, it’s not – it’s just a fill in the blanks AFTER you get past the picture recognition thing (it’s very hard to explain but worth the trouble).

So there you have it… multiple ways to get your current posts automatically onto Twitter, plus add some graphic interest to your posts painlessly.  Enjoy!

Now it’s your turn to tell us what you think about this post. So please DO comment!