Best Independent Tech Blog Readers Choice Awards 2004

Results of 2004 Readers Choice Award

1. Groklaw - Pamela Jones' Groklaw was the resounding winner of the First TechWeb Network Best Independent Tech Blog Readers Choice Awards. Groklaw looks at open-source technology through a legal lens, providing insight, commentary, and coverage of ongoing, high-profile legal battles.



2. AliceandBill - Is it Alice and Bill, or is it (Spencer) Tracey and (Katherine) Hepburn? Alice Hill and Bill O'Brien's blog is worth visiting if only for witty repartee. But the back-n-forth is just an inviting interface to great commentary on tech topics ranging from NASA's efforts at supersonic flight to TIVO modifications to the problems with storing digital photographs.



3. CrackTalk - Terry Blount's CrackTalk has been providing updates and links concerning technology issues, from vulnerabilities to wireless to how-to for almost 8 years.



4. Slashdot - Slashdot claims to provide "news for nerds" and it provides its members with a forum to post virtually anything. With a large following of insiders, this site provides a wide variety of opionions and insights - not to mention news.



5. Daily Dose of Excel - This is the ultimate tips-n-tricks blog for Excel enthusiasts. Virtually every day, this blog provides an extremely well-appointed trick for getting more out of Excel. From sorting on more than three columns to creating custom message boxes, Daily Dose of Excel provides step-by-step instructions with screenshots as aids.



6. jkOnTheRun - James Kendrik's jkOnTheRun looks at the world through a mobile filter. Providing sometimes in-depth reviews of mobile technologies, this blog is clearly the work of someone with both knowledge and passion about the needs and interests of mobile users.



7. Longhorn Blogs - Longhorn Blogs says up front that it's not a Microsoft site. It's a "community-based initiative to spread the word about the next version of Windows." The site compiles 59 blogs about the topic from a wide range of technologists.



8. The Enterprise System Spectator - Frank Scavo describes his blog this way: it's a forum for his observations on enterprise systems, the vendors that provide them, and the experiences of companies that implement them. Frank's willingness to slaughter sacred cows can be seen in the headlines of several recent posts: "Sarbanes-Oxley compliance: too often a wasted effort" and "Functionality is dead." A nice touch is that each of his posts contains links to previous related posts



9. Smallbiztechnology - Ramon Ray runs smallbiztechnology.com with the goal of helping small businesses use technology to grow their business. Posts such as "Live Spam FREE. Use Challenge Response" and "Do Open Ports Scare You? Then Block Them" are typical on the blog and particularly useful because they not only offer information but they also take a position. Ray's book "Technology Solutions for Growing Businesses" is available from Amazon.com.



10. VarLinux - VarLinux is a community blog site at its most democratic, with ongoing postings by members and administrators, mostly with an open-source slant. Members of VarLinux first argued about whether or not the site qualified, creating a string of 52 comments.