The Federal Trade Commission is keeping an eye on blogger freebies

Just as a heads up for everyone in the blogging community: the FTC is planning to start checking on the freebies that you might get from promoting someone or a company on your blog. Taking a cool camera for writing about the awesome snaps it takes? Better read this AP wire story first.

The practice has grown to the degree that the Federal Trade Commission is paying attention. New guidelines, expected to be approved late this summer with possible modifications, would clarify that the agency can go after bloggers — as well as the companies that compensate them — for any false claims or failure to disclose conflicts of interest.

It would be the first time the FTC tries to patrol systematically what bloggers say and do online. The common practice of posting a graphical ad or a link to an online retailer — and getting commissions for any sales from it — would be enough to trigger oversight.

How do you feel about blogger "perks"? If it's clearly labeled as pay-for-play and taxed appropriately, does that make you feel more trusting of the blogger and the company?

Announcing the Week Four Winner of the "Green by Design" Contest

Last week was the final week of the "Green by Design" contest and we'd like to thank you all for your creative and inspiring submissions.

Our Week Four winner is Dave Morgan. Congratulations Dave!!

Add this badge to your blog.

And our Week Four Runner-Up is José Ferreira.

Thank you to everyone who submitted a badge to the Green by Design contest and to everyone who added a Green Badge to your blog in support of the One Million Acts of Green campaign. 

Remeber: When the Green Badges receive a million impressions across the blogosphere, Six Apart will donate $1000 to The Climate Project. 

Add a Green Badge to your blog today to help us reach our goal!

Here are just a few of the designs to choose from:

Each badge links to the One Million Acts of Green brought to you by Cisco website. One Million Acts of Green is a collaborative environmental campaign encouraging everyone to go green. One act at a time. The goal? One million acts of green!

Visit the One Million Acts of Green website today to record your Acts of Green!

Favorite Blogs: One Dollar For George

Lighten Up Bikes' motto is "biking is fun. fun is good." which I totally agree with. The latest cool project they're doing is helping George, an Atlanta local who collects cans to supplement his social security income, to get a bike made specifically for that purpose. George is a 62 year old Vietnam vet, and in the words of the blog:

"This is George. George lives in SW Atlanta. He collects cans by the roadside and hauls his load on this bicycle. Last night, I received an email from my friend Ken that simply said "we gotta get George a Mundo". To which I replied, "Who the hell is George?". To which Ken replied, "dude george the guy who hauls all the cans on his bike up and down murphy". One dollar for George was born."

They're not telling George that they're raising money for his new bike - they're just hoping to get him one, one dollar at a time - and it takes about 100 cans to get $1. Do you have a dollar for George's new bike?

Visit One Dollar for George.

This week's Update - Themes, Fixes, and the New TypePad

We've been really busy the past few weeks, so here's a wrap-up of some of the work we've done, plus an update on yesterday's release.

Question of the Day is now in TypePad! One of your favorite features from our sister service, Vox, is now on your TypePad dashboard. You can post from the QotD module in TypePad, straight to your blog. If you haven't tried it yet, give it a shot - and we want your input to make this a feature you love in TypePad, too – so let us know what you think would make it even better.

We had a slew of great new themes for your blog from our friends in the Toyko office.Thanks to everyone for your feedback on those, like widening the main column layout.

We announced the opening of our small business center, which can help your business get a professional, effective web presence built while still being mindful of cost.

Fixes and features for Guest authors:

• guest author billing should be sorted out now - there was a temporary bug asking guest authors for credit card information. This is fixed now.
• Loads and loads of admin flow fixes that our Pro, Premium and Business Class bloggers have been asking for forever. This may have changed the way some guest authors schedule draft posts, so we're working on a way to more easily manage and publish draft posts.
  

Fixes and features for TypePad Connect and people previewing the new TypePad:

• If you're previewing the new design, you can now edit comments! Thanks to everyone on our Get Satisfaction forums who let us know this was important.
  
• The number of comments shown at the bottom of each post now will tally with the actual number of comments.
• Editing a comment no longer shows the email address of the commenter.
  
• Managing comments in the new TypePad is easier now - thanks to your feedback, we're working on how the flow works - for instance, if I'm on page 2 of comments, and delete one, now, I stay on page 2, rather than being taken back to page 1.
• "View comment" opens in a new window.
• along with a ton of other comment moderation improvements.
  

We fixed a lot of individual customers' issues, too. If you still need help, just let us know by opening up a trouble ticket with our support team.

What we're really excited about is getting things ready around here for more people being able to preview the new TypePad. There's more to come soon!

Themes from Japan!

You've been asking for new themes for your blog, and we heard you loud and clear. Our Japan team, also known around the office as SAKK, has some really sleek, fun, and kawaii themes with an international flair and we thought you'd like to see these on your blogs. Check 'em out!

I'm really excited about the diversity of the design options available. Since a picture's worth a thousand words, I thought I'd put up some of my favorites.

Try these new themes: just click to your "design" tab - click "themes" and "new".