One thing that I forgot to blog about a couple of weeks ago was the public release of the TypePad platform and APIs. The new platform is a continuation of TypePad’s development of helpful community tools. Its TypePad Motion, an open source microblogging app, is already gaining popularity.

Since its inception in 2003, TypePad and Movable Type have been partner platforms that have also been developed side by side. The new TypePad platform will mean that users of Movable Type and its developers will find it easier to use the new features and the infrastructure that has been significantly improved.

The developer community can develop for TypPad using the TypePad APIs.

Some people think that the internet has had enough of celebrity blogs, because a new one is being set up.

The LA Time is launching a new blog that will deal with celebrity news and rumors. The new blog, which will be on latimes.com, will be manned by blogger Christie D’Zurilla.

This blog looks like it’s going to be a good read though, considering D’Zurilla’s background. She was a stand-cup comic and a card carrying SAG member. The stand-up comedy experience could translate to very irreverent entries from her. Aside from writing for the celebrity news blog, she will also be responsible for editing submissions from contributors.

Wordpress, the world’s most popular blogging platform is set to make formatting for mobile phones easier.

Wordpress will release a new mobile theme that is turned on by default. This new theme does not have most of the formatting embedded on normal Wordpress themes. This makes loading the mobile theme-enabled sites easier to load on mobile phones. The new mobile theme is an optional “improvement”. Bloggers can opt out of the new setting and not implement it on their sites.

The mobile web theme is seen as a step towards making the mobile web more accessible to surfers. The present environment of the mobile web leaves much to be desired and improvements are very welcome at this point.

Blogs are not just a pastime anymore. Many people are now earning money writing and operating blogs. Unfortunately, if earning money is involved you can be sure the government will be there sniffing around.

And sniff around it does. Apparently, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has set its eye on the blogging community. The FTC has issued a revision to its advertising practices rules. The first to be done in 30 years. The revision now addresses businesses involved in non traditional media like blogging.

The new rules now require advertisers to include the typical results for any claims they make. An example are those blogs that claim that you will lose weight if you get a certain product. The blogger is now required to include additional comments regarding the typical rate of loss. Failure to do so will mean they can be sued.

Facebook has become such a big phenomenon that even the deceased are finding a home within its pages.

Facebook recently announced it has implemented a new privacy setting that will allow family and friends to turn the online Facebook profiles of their departed loved ones in to some kind of memorial.

The idea for the memorialized Facebook profile had its beginnings when the friend of a Facebook employee was tragically killed in an accident. The deceased also happens to be a Facebook employee. One of the natural directions of the conversations among the officemates was what to do with the deceased Facebook profile.

The memorialized Facebook profile has some features removed. Basically, what is deeemd as sensitive information like contact information and status updates are removed. The profile is also removed from the public search. Only the people who were already accepted as friends before will be able to view the memorialized profile.

Despite some claims of commercialization of the dead, I actually like this idea. It’s a great way of remembering the people that we love who have passed away.

Disney is one of the biggest companies in the world. It has a lot of different interests that make it the largest companies in the entertainment industry. But it’s surprising to know that despite being a huge company, Disney is not at the forefront of some emerging technological trends. For example, Disney didn’t have a blog for its parks, one of its biggest money making ventures.

Finally, though, the company has wised up. It recently announced the creation of a new blog for Disney Parks. The new Disney Parks blog is the newest kid on the blogging block and it looks like it is going to be a promising new addition to the blogosphere. Expect to see informative posts from the leaders in the field of amusement parks (a big business worldwide), a great social networking feature where you can participate in forums (moderated, of course). You’ll also get standard features like an RSS feed and permalinks. Of course, you can expect PR fluff from the site as well. But It’s a small price to pay for a blog that will finally give us the latest news on one of Disney’s most well known ventures.

A few weeks ago, Lily Allen started a blog that showed her support against illegal file-sharing. The blog, called It’s Not Alright, was a direct response to the Featured Artists Coalition, a group that supports file-sharing. This group includes Radiohead and Blur.

Allen’s blog is supported by Mark Ronson and Gary Barlow, among others. But the heat that she has been getting from fans, who accuse her that she is against file-sharing because it will affect her financially.

Allen said the abuse she has been getting from fans prompted her to stop the blog. She added that she is “proud of the fact that I’ve been involved with this debate but I’m passing the baton on to other artists.”

There’s more and more reasons to blog — and one of them is a growing number of people devoting most of their online time reading blogs and visiting social networks.

Based on a study conducted by Nielsen, Americans are using 17 percent of their time visiting blogging sites like Blogger and social network sites like Facebook. This was a significant rise from the six percent that was calculated last year.

The Nielsen study also showed that spending for ads on blogging sites and social networks has doubled from last year, with spending amounting to $108 million a month. What’s more significant is that the increase was posted even when ad spend on other industries have decreased.

Blogging has really arrived in the mainstream.

IBM recently announced that it is including a micro-blogging feature to its Lotus Connections array of social networking tools. The company’s decision to include this feature, along with a file sharing capability, is to expand the reach of its software suite.

Lotus Connections 2.5 will also add a wiki service, which really repurposes its target market towards the tech-savvy person who wants to further enhance his blogging efforts.

This is a really good idea from IBM. It differentiates its product from Microsoft’s similar products while also addressing the growing demand for easy blogging features.

In these tough economic times no one can be assured of job security so it is quite refreshing and inspiring to hear about little triumphs that happen despite these trying times.

Brianna Karp’s story is one of those success stories that encourage people to persevere and give the blogging community a positive boost.

The 24-year-old Karp was laid off from her executive assistant work in July 2008. She made do with temp jobs and getting unemployment benefits but when she went through her personal savings she was forced to let go of her apartment and basically became homeless. The one thing she had to her name was a trailer she inherited from her father who committed suicide. Karp found herself living in the trailer that was parked in an LA-area Walmart parking lot.

Armed with her laptop, Karp banged out resumes and continued to look for a new job and because of the free WiFi at a coffee shop, started blogging. Her blog, the Girl’s Guide to Homelessness, was her personal account of adjusting to her new life.

Her voice was heard. People started reading her blog and her often hilarious takes on what it is to be homeless and the issues that surround her situation. Matt Barnes, a formerly homeless man who runs a web site on homeless issues in Scotland, even contacted her and asked her to write for his site. The two eventually became involved.

Karp’s great writing skills even endeared her to Elle Magazine advice columnist E. Jean Carroll. Karp unsuccessfully tried to audition for a reality show where contestants vie for a position as an assistant to Carroll. After the failed audition, Karp emailed Carroll personally and the message grabbed the columnist’s attention. Carroll offered Karp an internship and a chance to write a fashion blog for the magazine.

Perseverance and a real opportunity to use blogging for something fresh was Karp’s ticket to success.