First off, the BNW team would like to wish our readers happy holidays!

Speaking of holidays, you can now nominate several bloggers who you think should be having really joyful times soon by the merit of their blogs. The 2007 Performancing Blog Awards is now open!

From our sister site:

Official Categories For The 2007 Performancing Blog Awards:

1. The Best Overall Blog


2. The Most Influential Blogger


3. The Best Blog Design


4. The Best Blog Typography


5. The Best Blog Name


6. The Best New Blog


7. The Best Blog Community


8. The Most Improved Blog of 2007


9. The Best Blogs You’ve Never Heard Of


10. The Best Blog Podcast


11. The Best Use of a Corporate Blog


12. The Best Video Blog


13. The Best Writing/Blogging Blog


14. The Best Science/Technology Blog


15. The Most Controversial Blog


16. The Best SEO Blog


17. The Best Celeb/Style Blog


18. The Best Business/Money Blogs


19. The Best Photo Blog


20. The Best Sports Blog


21. The Best Blog WebHost


22. The Best Family and Parenting Blog


23. The Best Political Blog


24. The Best Food/Health Blog


25. The Funniest Blog

It’s the people’s awards afterall…

26. The Best Travel Blog


27. The Best Education Blog


28. The Best Entertainment Blog (Music, TV, Movies)

Following up their recent reinforcement of five new blogs, the Beauty Blog Network has already added another member, Purse Buzz.

From BBN’s own words: “Known for her attention and detail to her makeup tutorials and for her love of Mac, Purse Buzz is the latest and greatest addition!”

Visit Purse Buzz.

In their recent blog post, KMM recaps a slew of milestones achieved during the blog network’s second year of existence. An excerpt:

Know More Media network stats:

• Over 60 business experts as Know More Media authors


• Over 70 active business blogs (over 100 total blogs)


• 15.1 million unique visits


• 24.5 million page views


• Over 61,000 published posts with over 41,000 comments

Giant blog network b5media has released three new blogs:

• Celebtots—“Where you can keep track of the tiniest stars, baby bumps and births”


• The Boston Traveler—“Has plenty of tips and ideas for appreciating the [Boston] area, regardless of the weather”


• The Disney Traveler—“[Lets] you in on a few insider secrets as well as get you up to speed about the myriad Disney destinations around the world”

The Beauty Blog Network has added five blogs to its roster since November 30, 2007:

• The Soap Bar—“Reviews of handmade soap and the people behind the bar”


• Bionic Beauty—“Features makeup samples, beauty freebies, affordable cosmetics and honest product reviews”


• Girl Gloss—“All things lipstick, gloss and balm”


• Beauty Anonymous—“A fellowship of women (could be for men too, you metrosexuals) who share their experiences with each other for being pretty and fabulous”


• The Beauty of Life—“All about the latest and greatest beauty products and treatments”

Two of Splashpress Media’s prime properties, DevLounge and Wisdump will fuse their energies together—without leaving each other’s domains.

SP Media veteran Thord Daniel Hedengren has taken over the reins at both sites, and the Splashpress official site has this to say:

What made Thord’s plans especially exciting with the takeover of DevLounge was how he wanted to tie up DevLounge in “symbiosis” with Wisdump, with one focusing its content “about” WordPress design, while the other concentrates on “within” WordPress design (tips, tricks, etc). And to physically join these communities, Thord is planning a joint forum: WisLounge.com.

We have added to our list Manolo the Shoeblogger’s network of fashion and lifestyle blogs. From Manolo (no, not Blahnik!):

Currently the blogs number eight:

Manolo’s Shoe Blog
Manolo for the Men
Manolo for the Brides
Manolo for the Big Girl
Manolo’s Basement of the Bargains
Teeny Manolo
Manolo’s Food Blog
Ayyyy!

In the coming week, the Manolo will launch number nine, Manolo for the Home.

And, even better, early in the new year the Manolo will introduce two new Spanish blogs,  Manolo Moda and Manolo Novias.

These will be the first in what the Manolo hopes will become the successful network of Spanish-language fashion and lifestyle blogs.

The Blog Herald reports that Six Apart’s Movable Type is now open source:

Licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2, the blogging community then is allowed to freely modify, redistribute, and use Movable Type for anything they want. This is going to be all good for the blogging community with both major blog platforms now openly available to everyone.

I guess losing ground to wordpress took part in the decision to move into open source?

We have added the newly unveiled Green Options network to our list. Green Options is billed as the “first green blog network”, and that it “has something for every reader”.

The network’s press release:

Berkeley, CA (December 7, 2007) – Green lifestyle company Green Options is now Green Options Media, and has repositioned its popular portal GreenOptions.com as the gateway to the first ever green blog network. Also anchored by activist portal Planetsave.com, the network will rapidly expand to a wide range of topics and voices, each focused on empowering consumers to make more sustainable choices.

“At GreenOptions.com we felt that our writers were so great, they shouldn’t have to share a soapbox,” says Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, GO Media’s Senior Editor. “We’ve created Green Options Media to give them a more flexible platform – a network of blogs covering the green issues that matter most.”

Green Options Media’s blog network will appeal to a wide cross-section of readers, featuring content ranging from environmental politics to guidance in adopting a more sustainable diet. Visitors to Green Options Media can:

• Follow GO Media writers as they dig deeper into important topics, from energy policy to responsible, green parenting
• Blog about their green passions (or struggles) with their free GO Journal at GreenOptions.com
• Get free personal webmail and daily green and oddball news at PlanetSave.com

“The GreenOptions.com team is very excited to launch the Green Options Media network,” says David Anderson, GO Media’s founder and Publisher. “We look forward to providing engaging content to everyone, from those just tapping into the green movement, to those already deeply involved in it.”

The company plans to build out its network of blogs through 2008, by spinning off original GO writers, and recruiting new writers, both externally and through user contributions at the new GreenOptions.com.

We have added the yaBloggy network to our watchlist. yaBloggy currently consists of 12 blogs and, on the average, boasts of >130,000 pageviews per month.

According to yaBloggy, they are a “new and young Blog Network with great plans for future. We are trying our best to make the blogs interesting, exciting and newsworthy.”

Visit the yaBloggy network here.