WOW! Our little blog poll is in line with Nielsen

You’ve heard of ratings, right? In the TV and online world Nielsen is the boss of metrics. The industry lives or dies by these ratings, so Nielsen numbers are taken very seriously. We’re happy to announce that our little online poll raked in similar results as Nielsen’s Inauguration Day findings.

We both found that CNN.com and MSNBC.com were the Online destinations of choice in the U.S. to watch this historic event. Both sites provided a variety of sources and ways to enjoy the inauguration-whether through radio pod cast, live streaming or blogging.

A big part of this was that people had to go to work and be away from their TVs, but thanks to technology we didn’t have to miss this historic moment. When years go by, we will get asked “Where were you when Obama took his oath?” and many of us will say: “at work, watching it on my computer”.

Are you surprised by the findings?

News Check: Gaza, Top Movies

What’s your top story?

Give your blog a makeover, MSNBC style

If you’re a fan of the MSNBC News portal on Windows Media Center, you’re doubtless aware of the sharp visual style of the MSNBC.com website.* One thing that’s particularly appealing is the way that stories are grouped by category, a design that (judging from the search engine traffic we’re seeing on this blog) some bloggers might like to implement on their own sites.

If you use WordPress, here are a couple of ways you can make that happen:

• WordPress Theme Tutorial: MSNBC-like Home Page Category Listing (Play Work Play)
• Make Sections MSNBC Style in WordPress (Curtis Henson)

And if you enjoy getting your news from MSNBC.com and you run Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate, check out the MSNBC portal on Windows Media Center. Here are some videos of the portal in action.

*Props to Jim Ray

Some WMC Love!

Wanted to highlight a recent post by Charles Sumpter of A Leader in the Making. Charles is one of our participating bloggers and recently used Windows Media Center and the MSNBC portal for the first time.

As a political enthusiast, Charles found the portal as a great tool to search for shows and clips related to his interests!

Furthermore, if you are like me, you like having everything at your finger tips, fast and easy. With WMC, you can do just that. There you can watch your favorite TV clips, watch the latest movie coming attractions (Great!, listen to music and see what’s going on in your neighborhood and around the world. What I also like about WMC is that its very intuitive. For someone who has never used a system quite like it, I was able to navigate through it with ease. It is so interactive and im my opinion represents the wave of future in how we view and transfer information.

Thanks Charles! We’re glad you’ve had a great experience thus far. Keep us posted =)

News Check: Secretary of State Clinton

We’re asking people about hot news stories they’re following and then finding video coverage on Windows Media Center.

Tell us what you think! And if you want, leave a comment and tell us what news YOU’RE following — maybe we’ll make one for your top story!