Can anyone get any large screenshots of NewsBlogger using the Internet Archive and send them to me? Thanks.

Regarding the previous post, I can say that some of the ideas and concepts of NewsBlogger are available now through other services. For instance, Nick Denton and Meg Hourihan, a co-founder of Pyra, reinvented the web-based news aggregator, and made Kinja.

Pyra, the company behind Blogger, founded by Evan Williams and his friends, and later acquired by Google, was one of those few companies which decided to focus on producing better user experience, instead of making huge loads of money.

However, Pyra had some rough times. It was so rough that Ev asked people to donate money for buying new servers. During the rough times, they had to drop some interesting projects. One of these projects was NewsBlogger. I read about it, and liked it very much. According to Ev’s words, this web application was “not for everyone.” It was the fruit of cooperation between Pyra and Nick Denton‘s Moreover.

I tried to use the Internet Archive website to retrive some pages from the project, but found out the f**kers at ISU have blocked the Wayback Machine tool. I don’t have any large screenshots, so I’ll try to describe in words. The user interface would be divided to three parts; a column on the left for headlines, the upper (larger) part for the syndicated content from the websites you subscribed to through RSS, and the bottom part which contains the well-known Blogger input box where you can write whatever you want and push Publish to update your blog.

Such thing would have been perfect for people like me, but unfortunately, NewsBlogger was killed early and never crossed the Beta mode. “I wish we’d have had the resources to keep NewsBlogger going,” Ev wrote on his blog. Too bad they did not have the resources, and too bad when Google acquired Pyar no one thought of reviving it.

Take a look at the “Bloggers from the A-list to the Z-list” by Jon Garfunkel. Nice. Here is a question: Where Saudi Jeans would be listed?

Abid Khazindar: “Yes, our universities are dying.”

Arab News asks some citizens why they did not register as voters, and one of them says: “I do not know what benefit that I would get from the election. I heard from my friends that the elections are a waste of time.” Hmmm, this man seems to have some stupid friends.

Husein Shubukshi: A new ministry for local governance?