Happy 10th Birthday To The Weblog

By Digital Trends Staff December 17, 2007

If you’re a blogger, hopefully you ate a birthday cake yesterday to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the word “weblog.” It was coined December 17, 1997 by Jorn Barger as a word that described his activities on his Robot Wisdom page – logging curious web sites on his online journal, which he updated regularly. Of course, the word stuck, although it’s become shorted to simply “blog.” These days, according to some reports, there are over 70 million blogs posted regularly. That’s a far cry from 1998, when some believed there were a total of 23 weblogs. A year after that, however, new tools made the sites much easier to work, and the shorter term blog started to become part of the lexicon, according to the BBC. Technorati estimates 120,000 new blogs are created daily, with overall posts added at the stunning and scary rate of 17 per second. So happy birthday to the blog – and how long before social networks turn ten?

Digital Trends Staff

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Smart Home

This 4th of July deal saves you $50 on the Nest Learning Thermostat

nest energy star learning thermostat thumb 243

The third-generation Google Nest Learning Thermostat, a smart home device that will help you save energy while staying comfortable, is currently available from Dell's 4th of July sale with a 24% discount. It already offers amazing value at its original price of $249, so it's a steal at $60 off for a more affordable price of $189. You're going to have to secure your purchase as soon as possible though, because we're not sure if this bargain will be online until the end of the holiday.

Why you should buy the third-generation Google Nest Learning Thermostat
While there are various models of smart thermostats with different features, the common characteristic is that these devices let homeowners cut their expenses by allowing you to control your home's thermostat using your smartphone and create schedules for your desired settings. You'll enjoy these benefits and more with the third-generation Google Nest Learning Thermostat, which is in our roundup of the best smart thermostats primarily because of its impressive learning capabilities. The device takes note of how you and your family members move around the house, and makes adjustments to your home's temperature depending on your habits and the time of day. The Farsight sensors make learning more accurate, as they are able to detect people up to 5 meters away.

Smart Home

Ecovacs Deebot T10 Omni vs. Ecovacs Deebot T20 Omni: Is the T20 worth it?

The Ecovacs T20 Omni docked in a living room.

Ecovacs makes some of the best robot vacuums of 2023. The company launched the well-reviewed Deebot T10 Omni in April and the upgraded Deebot T20 arrived in June. The two robots look remarkably similar, with a massive docking station capable of emptying the dustbin, cleaning the mops, and then drying the mops to remove unwanted odors.

So what exactly is new on the Deebot T20 Omni? And if you already own a T10 Omni, is it worth springing for the latest robot from Ecovacs? Here’s a closer look at the T10 Omni and T20 Omni to help you decide.
Pricing and availability

Deals

Our 10 favorite Memorial Day deals (including a 50-inch TV for $198)

A collection of electronic gadgets out of their shipping boxes.

Memorial Day is upon us. As we reflect on those that have lost their lives in wars, and the ongoing conflicts around the world, we are also given a chance for a much needed break and a three-day weekend. Retailers, too, celebrate this time of year by giving us sales lasting the whole weekend. Of course, not all of these sales and deals are created equally, so we've poured through the listings and found ten that we believe are truly worth your time. They include everything from TVs to smart thermostats, so let your imagination go wild as you scroll through our 10 favorite Memorial Day deals:
Ring Video Doorbell — $70, was $100

Want to keep your home safer, communicate with outdoor strangers without opening your door, and catch high quality video footage of the outside of your home even when its dark? For only $70 you do, especially with a Ring Video Doorbell, one of our favorite smart doorbells. You can communicate with it directly via Alexa, too, as part of your smart home. This can mean speaking directly with the people outside or using a preset response built into your Ring Alarm. Or, if you don't want to be bothered — or are outside your home — you can have your alarm take a message. The setup is relatively easy, as the machine is wireless. While this does mean that the device uses a battery, you'll find that Ring Video Doorbells have longer lasting batteries than you might've guessed.