We at Node Six are very proud to present our latest in a series of Web Applications that we are dedicating considerable time to. Fresh on the heels of Design Kingdom and straight out of the Node Six Media Network Labs, we give you Blogspirit Version 1.5.1 codenamed Koi Koi as we bring the riddle of blogging to blogville and then attempt to solve it. Yes, do not look shocked, we can do all that just for you dear blogren!

While the older version just listed all the latest blog entries from all the blogs in our database, version Koi Koi does more than list. Its features range from a funky shout box to a members only area. In between we’ve got a chat area (where y’all can just go and chill while catching up with one another) plus an archive section just in case you were in Kanungu and had no access to the internet Additionally, we shall also be able to bring you up to date news from in and around Blogville, so stay tuned!

On a lighter note, you will have noticed the funky codename we chose, thus we are looking to get GNL Zamba to endorse our Koi Koi. Perhaps, for his troubles, we shall hook him up with a blog and introduce him to the awesomeness that is blogging. So, if he is your personal friend, give us a shout

If you notice any bugs or feel that we did not cater for some of your needs in the latest version, please do not hesitate to give us a shout in the feedback area. We would love to hear from you as we work on rolling out an even better and more interactive version.

So go ahead, blog some more and for those of you without blogs, see what you are missing out on. If you would like to get your own blog, give us a shout at Node Six and we shall be there for you all the way as you begin to take your baby steps in blogville.

Till then dear blogren. ciao

This is a small update for those Beta Testing BlogSpirit Version 2, and generally for anyone interested in news about the new BlogSpirit.

We’ve received verbal and written feedback concerning the functionality of BlogSpirit. From this feedback, we’ve noticed that:

1. Most of you would like to immediately view the blogs. This business of selecting feeds you’re interested in is not working.

2. Others however, love the ability to customise their own feeds, it gives them the control they need.

3. Some people are not getting activation emails.

4. Internet Explorer functionality is still an issue. This one we know about, but we’re working on it.

5. Adding new feeds is not as intuitive as we’d like it to be.

So, in order to move forward, we’re going to backtrack a little and change some things slightly.

1. We’re going to keep adding more blogs to the current BlogSpirit.
We had stopped adding blogs to the current BlogSpirit, because we were worried it would get too saturated too fast and we’d have too much information on the home page.

But, seeing as taking care of the issues in the new BlogSpirit will take some time, we’re going to keep adding the blogs we’ve discovered until the new BlogSpirit is ready, so be a little prepared for blog overload.

2. We’re combining the current BlogSpirit with the new BlogSpirit functionality.
The initial reason for creating a new BlogSpirit was to add some flexibility and customisation to the thousands of feeds that will eventually come up. Users would be able to follow their favourite authors instead of being bombarded with too much information.

However, gauging from the feedback, we’re better off first populating, then filtering later.

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Winding up, if all this seems like too much jargon, worry not, you’ll see the changes in a few weeks.

Cheers!

We’re creating this temporarily to get your feedback on the new version of BlogSpirit. Please let us know what your feedback, suggestions and critiques are.

It will help us greatly improve the service over time.

Thank you!

In Brief

If you’re the impatient type, here’s the gist of this post: We need a few people to help us take the application for a spin and tell us how it works or if it sucks. Head over here to register. You will recieve an email in a few days with more instructions.

In Full

First of all, I’d like to thank all of you for making BlogSpirit version 1 such a success. All the little links you’ve been putting on your blogs, the banners, the hype, the word of mouth, we appreciate. Without you, it would be just another in-house application atrophying on our computers. So, yeah, thank you bloggers, you guys ROCK!

Now, there’s some exciting news.

BlogSpirit Version 2 is almost here!

Yup, and we’re just as excited. Why?

The New Features

1. Multiuser support
   BlogSpirit now supports multiple users. This means you can login and choose which blogs you want to follow. You can also add your own feeds, not neccessarily Ugandan. Or you can just choose to view the public feed, which shows all Ugandan blogs on BlogSpirit.
2. Personal settings.
   With the new BlogSpirit, you can make personal settings that are only visible when you login. Like you can mark articles as favourites and view your favourite articles, with one click. No more scouring the web looking for that one article you liked so much.
3. Support for Tagging
   You can tag articles and posts within BlogSpirit. This will not affect the original article, but only the article database in BlogSpirit. This makes searching through blog posts a lot easier.
4. Feed Categorisation
   BlogSpirit now has support for categorisation of feeds, so you can label your categories as business, news, humour, etc and then sort your feeds into those categories.
5. Email Digest
   You can choose to have BlogSpirit deliver an email summary of the latest blog posts straight to your inbox.
6. A better feed engine.
   We moved from Gregarius to Tiny Tiny RSS, a better all round feed engine. This means updates will be faster and less sporadic.

There’s lots more in the pipeline, but first, we need your help.

Since the new BlogSpirit has much more extended functionality, it inevitably means there are likely to be bugs, features and functionality that we haven’t yet fixed, but which require real world usage to fix.

So we’re opening a private Beta testing phase for the new BlogSpirit.

We need a few of you guys to head over here and register for the private beta testing. In a few days, you will receive another email telling you how you can access BlogSpirit version 2.

In lay man’s terms, basically, help us take the application for a spin and tell us how it works or if it sucks.

Please sign up here.

Thank you!

The Node Six Team

Yep. We made it through our second year. I must say it’s been a very trying year, with lots of successes, breakthroughs, but also issues and setbacks that we hadn’t anticipated, but I thank God for giving us the strength, wisdom and courage to face our shortcomings and to keep pushing on.

We’re still far from achieving our mission, but we’re on the right road.We hope that over the next year, we will achieve major milestones with innovative new products and excellent customer support.

A big thank you to every single person that stood by us, clients, friends, family. Even those who left us, or were disappointed with our services, a big thank you, you taught us more than you can ever know, and the experience we gained from handling your needs is priceless.

To the team at Node Six, thank you for being the best people to work with. Your spirit and dedication will always keep the company burning with passion and innovation.

We’re yet to hold a mega bash, but for now, we’ll probably throw a small staff party sometime this month.

It’s been one heck of a journey, and the next year promises to be even more exciting.

We hope you will join us as we harness the power of the internet for all Ugandans.

Thank you and God bless.