With the launch of Britney Groupie, we’re officially dubbing b5media the “celebrity network”:

Yes, that was Duncan’s stance at the time. However, we’ve found his dirty little secret. It took some poking and prodding, a lot of emails and just a few tequila’s but we found Duncan’s dirty little secret: Duncan totally loves Britney Spears.

I’m not sure if it’s the blonde hair, or the tight red suit in “Oops, I Did It Again” or the fact that she’s married to a hillbilly. But no matter, he is totally addicted. We’ve been letting him vent his little secret for a few weeks now over at Britney Groupie, but all of the b5 founders felt it was time for Duncan to get help, and the best way to get him help was to expose his secret blogging.

So, today, we are launching Britney Groupie. Just to help Duncan out. Cause, Dunc, you really need help mate!

Several new postings over at BloggerJobs:

• WIN Hiring Bloggers in several topics


• Appleology looking for writers

Syntagma Media is back online:

I’m happy to report our four stricken blogs are now back online.

[...]

The server had a primary hard disk failure. The disk had to be replaced and the whole thing reinstalled. However, the engineers managed to scrape the data off the old disk so everything emerged totally up-to-date. Otherwise, in the worst case, we might have dropped a post or comment or two.

The backup facilities proved robust and everything turned out OK, despite the sites being offline for around 12 hours.

These things happen, of course. A server company can’t be responsible for every tiny connection within every piece of equipment, nor for every bug in largely open-source software. So we have to cut them some slack. Personally, I was impressed by the way they handled this event.

While I’m glad to see that Syntagma is back online, I do not agree with their approach that a server company shouldn’t be responsible for every piece of equipment – I do hold them responsible for everything. My network connections, the server hardware, the automated backups that we pay for, and everything else that is part of our service level agreement with them.

If our server provider couldn’t provide the level of service that I expected, they’d be out the door.

I also hold my system adminstrator (me) accountable for making sure that the system is up and running and performing at the level I expect. The clients for which we provide system administration services for expect the same out of us as well.

And John, we’re available. The rate is $95/hour.

Watson Online has joined the Blue Fish Network:

We’re pleased to announce that Watson Online has joined the Blue Fish Network.

It’s wrriten by Nick Ballesteros from Manila in the Philippines, who writes:

I once thought that there was nothing out of the ordinary with my life until I read an article in Reader’s Digest that said everybody has a story to tell. And so blog I did. It was a realization and appreciation of things, however common they may seem to be. My blog is about sharing life and ideas with anybody who are likewise willing to share theirs.

Take a look at Nick’s blog. There’s some fantastic photography and writing about life in Manila.

b5media has launched several new blogs in their new women’s channel.

Last week, Syntagma Media was spouting off about servers, uptime, and the need for infrastructure, and then we see this:

it seems the server has experienced a primary hard drive failure. The latest info is that a new operating system has been installed and engineers are trying to retrieve data from the stricken drive.

It all sounds pretty drastic. But these guys routinely perform apparent miracles, so we’ve got our fingers crossed. This highlights what I was saying here a few days ago about server problems and how you need to build professional failsafe mechanisms.

Know More Media launches ten new blogs:

TheAlphaMarketer.com will address all aspects of online marketing.

CompanyCounselor.com will deal with the many matters and opportunities faced by in-house counsel for a company.

GoodRecruits.com will provide insight on how to attract and recruit the right kind of people for a business.

AManWalksIntoAnOffice.com will present a stage for business humor.

WithinTheVault.com will offer information and news about the banking industry, targeted towards those within the banking industry and those who follow it.

ItsBadBusiness.com will turn a bright spotlight on businesses that harm or scam their customers, their employees, or their shareholders.

TheBizofCoding.com will talk about all sides of the software industry.

BizPodcasting.com will discuss the many facets of utilizing podcasting in business.

Workerette.com will provide a conversation by, for, and about women in the workplace.

ThePharmVoice.com will address all things dealing with the pharmaceutical industry.

“These latest blogs are part of our ongoing plan to have a large number of sites about different aspects of business,” said Tim Stay, Chief Innovations Officer of Know More Media. “We are looking to have a lot of fun with AManWalksIntoTheOffice.com; we think there is a real desire to bring humor into the business arena, as evidenced by workplace comic strips like ‘Dilbert’ or sitcoms like ‘The Office.’ We are also excited about our first site to deal with business ethics: ItsBadBusiness.com.”

The After Mac:

When b5media started, our Technology Channel was chock full of Microsoft blogs. Thankfully, over time, we’ve managed to correct that, by adding a Linux blog (or two?) and a variety of other “general technology” blogs.

One platform that was missing, though, was the glorious Mac platform. Today, we get to change all of that with The After Mac.

So you bought a Mac. Good call – they’re sexy, sleek, and fast. After a few days of messing around with it you start to get emails and phone calls. Strange people are hanging around outside your house. What the hell is going on?

Written by Cellphone9′er Jayvee Fernandez and new b5′er Adel Gabot, The After Mac promises to be a fresh looking into “what happens after biting the apple”.

Offbeat Homes:

I’ll be honest. It’s rare that I propose a blog idea that actually takes off. In the early days I seemed to be flush with good ideas. She Knows Best, Play Girlz and New Linux User were all conceived with a little help from yours truly.

Of course, each of the bloggers took my one-dimensional idea and made it their own. But, lately, almost every idea or blog launch has been one of our existing bloggers saying “hey, y’know what’d be great?”. In fact, our internal blog is a graveyard of dozens of ideas we haven’t (yet) run with, because our bloggers seem to have more time for thinking up new ideas than we have for implementing them.

Today’s launch is different though. Today, we launch Offbeat Homes. I am happy to say that this was one of the original ideas I had when we were brainstorming b5. I’d often refer to it in conversations with bloggers, but nobody seemed at all interested. Until my original call with Kevin Humphrey.

The Blue Fish Network has added more new sites:

Balay ni Bambit:

We’re pleased to announce that Balay ni Bambit has joined the Blue Fish Network.
It’s written by Victoria, and is “the thoughts and views of a 40+year-old housewife/mom in Parañaque City, Philippines.”

Ferocious Flirting:

We are pleased to announce that Ferocious Flirting has joined the Blue Fish Network.

Thou shalt flirt ferociously each day with thy spouse that thy marriage shall be blessed with strength, joy and longevity. In everyday life its important to take a moment to keep the romance kindled. How can a husband and a wife keep the romance alive? Here are a few ideas; including how to have romance in your marriage when there are children.

The J Spot:

We’re pleased to announce that The J Spot has joined the Blue FIsh Network.

It’s author is J. Angelo Racoma, from the Philippines. He is a professional blogger, running several sites, and this one is about technology and blogging.

First, it was a backup issue, now Paul Short’s shrinking network is hit with security & spammer problems:

If anyone out there has recieved email from any email address @gadgetizer.com, please be informed that it was not sent voluntarily by me, Paul Short or this site and server.

We’ve had a brief security breach with the server and some spammer found their way in. You can rest assured that this problem is being dealt with right now and our server logs have been forwarded to the proper authorities, who have already started tracking down the hackers and will take legal action.