BizAims

The blogosphere is engaged into an invisible battle with big corporations and it seems like good blogs are really registering some good results, some of them gaining victory over the corporations. Times Online created a list of fifty best blogs, some of them are corporate and some anti-corporate. The blogs in the list are divided according to the topic they mainly focus on.

Economics

1. Stumbling and Mumbling

The field of science brought to the internet a number of very talented bloggers. This blog is owned by Chris Dillow. His blog represents a fusion of political controversy spiced up with unusual stuff. In his recent posts he argues about religion. One of the latest posts is entitled "Privileging religion" and it starts with the question: "What is a conscience?"

2. Freakonomics

And economist and a journalist continued their work after the success of their book entitled Freakanomics. According to Steven Levitt, the University of Chicago, and Stephen J Dubner, who works at New York Times, they decided to analyze the "hidden side of everything." The recent post is entitled "Frank Talk [Massachusetts Representative] on Marijuana Legalization." It ends with the question "With Frank’s legalization bill about to make the rounds in Congress, do you feel any differently?"

3. Marginal Revolution

Latest post on this blog also focuses on religion. Its title is "Is religion for controlling men?" In one of the posts Tyler Cowen writes: "America's inequality problem -- and I mean the stagnation at the lower end, not the hedge funds guys at the top -- does indeed seem to stem from dysfunctional families and bad education."

Banking and finance

4. Going Private

The message on the blog says: "The Sardonic Memoirs of a Private Equity Professional." In the "About" section the author of the blog (whose name is not specified) writes: "I spent five years maneuvering to land, by hook or by crook, a coveted position in private equity. After all that, I may or may not live long enough to actually regret my decision." In one of the latest post on the blog the author starts with the phrase: "After two long years, and in a fit of insomnia brought on by too many Coen Brothers films (a particular weakness of mine- my theory, after three viewings, on No Country for Old Men is that everyone who tries to straddle both worlds, the good and the evil, pays for it."

5. Capital Chronicle

The author is Rawdon Adams. On his "About" page he writes that he was raised and educated in Barbados, United States and UK. Currently he lives in France. His latest post refers to "Embarrassing conditions," a section is some of the chemists/pharmacies/drug stores. He speaks about transparency and confidence.

6. Beehive

The author of this blog is Steve Bee, who is the head of pensions strategy at the Royal London Group. Mr. Bee took part in the duel with James Purnell, the Minister for Pension Reform. The combat was dubbed "battle of the pensions blogs." There is a question on the blog that asks for people's opinion. It says: "Do you think the government should wait until its review to assess the impact of its proposed legislation is complete before allowing the Pensions Bill to become law?"

7. Abnormal Returns

This blog represents a daily listing of investment reports, comments and rumors. The "About" page says that Abnormal Returns started as an "outlet for a private investor's thoughts on all manner of investment markets."

Construction and Property

8. House Price Crash

The title of the blog virtually describes its content. Its authors say: "Throughout, the aim of the site will remain the same to act as a counterbalance to the huge amounts of positive spin the housing market receives in the main media and provide anyone involved in the market with up to date data and commentary."

9. The Rat and Mouse

A box found on the upper side of the blog mentions the meaning of "rat and mouse." The message says: "rat and mouse n. (rhyming sl.) house, subject of obsessive value speculation (see dinner party chatter; see also gaff)

10. Consumerist

This is an American blog, the authors of which in one of the messages to their visitors write "Everywhere we turn, companies are pulling back from the value they offered when you signed the contract and handed over your payment, and leaving fees and restrictions in their wake." This part of the message is from a post entitled "You're Being Scammed Right Now."

11. Just Food

The information provided by this blog refers to the global food industry. The latest post is entitled "UK, US reignite biofuels debate." The author argues about the rise of biofuels as well as their influence on the food industry.

Engineering

12. Fastlane

General Motors decided to enter into the blogging world and leave a trail in it. The blog represents a community where GM executives are free to talk about the company's products, be it products currently on the market or products and services that are to be provided in future. In fact anyone can visit the blog and discuss on such topics as the development and design of GM's products. The blog also welcome visitors to discuss various issues that the company faces.

13. AG Blog

This blog provides information about the aerospace sector. The founder of the blog is Mr. Schonland. AG blog is a source of news and interviews from the aerospace field.

14. Have Your Say

The blog was created by a frustrated owner of a Land Rover. According to the contributor, he has never "suffered such contempt from any manufacturer." In his latest post, entitled "Is this blog influential" the author writes " Most contributors to the site have had similar experiences to me: poor product quality, lack of customer service. Others come to the defense of Landrover having had a faultless experience with their Discoveries. Others are doing product research, about to buy a luxury SUV. "

Health

15. Dr Crippen - NHS Blog Doctor

The author of the blog calls himself Dr. John Crippen. He characterizes the information on his blog as "the pleasures and pitfalls of family medicine in the modern British National Health Service."

16. Pharmalot

The author behind the blog is Ed Silverman, a prize-winning journalist who has written about the pharmaceutical industry for The Star-Ledger of New Jersey, which is one of the country's largest daily newspapers. The blog itself was awarded 3rd Place in the Online/Trade category by the Association of Health Care Journalists. The award was given for the sites May 2007 series entitled "Improper Marketing As An Infectious Disease," which referred to the accusations that Pfizer sales reps were pushed to use unfair business practices in order to improve sales of an older AIDS drug.

17. PharmaGossip

The message of the blog states: "Looking beyond the spin of Big Pharma PR. But encouraging gossip." The latest post talks about Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline, the world's biggest producers of drugs. The author writes that the two companies are increasing US prices in order to "boost revenue as prescriptions slow on their best-selling medicines."

Industrials

18. The Tin Basher

This blog refers to the Tinbasher company. Its aim is to make customers aware of Butler Sheetmetal Ltd, which is a small family-owned sheet metal shop working in Lancashire. According to the authors, the blog mainly aims towards letting people know about the people behind the family business and what they do. In addition the authors mention "don't let that stop you from getting confused by the occasional post that's completely off-topic."

Leisure

19. Mark Cuban: Blog Maverick

The author of the blog is Mark Cuban, who is a billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks and also the chairman of HDNet, the cable network.

20. Who Ate All The Pies?

The blog claims to be the best football blog on the planet, and according to Times Online it is. Its latest articles begins with "On the eve of David Beckham's century of England caps we thought we'd take a look back at one of the most inspirational careers in world football."

Media and Marketing

21. Tom Glocer

Although Reuters Chief Executive doesn't post frequently on his blog, it is worth mentioning that he is one of the very few FTSE100 chief executives to run a blog. On the home page visitors can find Mr. Grocer's greeting message where he writes: "All the best writing at Reuters gets done by our journalists, so I certainly don’t pretend that I can improve upon the impressive work they produce every day, often at great personal risk. Instead I’m going to write about what interests me, which is often my work at Reuters, as well as wider issues like technology and media - two areas that I am fascinated by."

22. Byrne Baby Byrne

The author of the blog is Colin Byrne, who works as the chief executive for Weber Shandwick, the company that is a UK leader in the field of PR consultancy. The blog includes opinions on public relations and public affairs. In his latest post he writes: "I turn up the volume to hear the immortal line "……and of course Justin Timberlake is a big fan of underwear made from soya, or as it is known in the States, vegetable cashmere." You really do learn something something every day."

23. Richard Edelman

The author of this blog is Richard Edelman, who is the president and chief executive of one of the world's biggest independent public relations company, which has 3000 employees working in 50 offices around the world. It is worth mentioning that Edelman was named Large PR Agency of the Year 2006 by The Holmes Report. In his latest report he doesn't talk about any "business plan for a new retail chain." He tells about his college tour with his 17 year old daughter. He writes: "We visited Rice University in Houston, Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont over the past five days." And then follows the full report.

24. Seth Godin

The author of this blog is a marketing guru, whose name is Seth Godin. He is three-in-one: a bestselling author, entrepreneur and agent of change. Godin wrote 10 books that became bestsellers worldwide. His latest post, entitled "Managing urgencies" starts with several questions including: "Do you have a plan?" and "A long or medium term plan for your brand or your blog or your career or your project?"

Natural Resources

25. White Sun of the Desert

The author of this blog is Tim Newman, a British expat who currently on Sakhalin Island, Russian Federation. He says "… [I'm] married to a Russian, and doing what I'm told." In his latest post Newman writes about a book written by a Russian woman who went to Britain in search for "happiness" and argues about the disadvantages living in Britain. The post is entitled "A Russian's View of Britain." Read post.

26. Commodity Trader

The blog includes information on various topics including agriculture, economics, gold as well as comment from the commodity pits.

27. Oil Change International

The title of the blog virtually says it all about the field the site is focused on. It is an anti-corporate blog that provides arguments against the oil industry.

Retail

28. Wal Mart Watch

This anti-corporate blog has pretty much to say about the retail sector. In one of the recent posts the authors argues about MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, who named Wal-Mart the "Worst Persons in the World" because it sued a "brain damaged former employee Debbie Shank."

29. Tescopoly - Every little hurts

This blog was launched in June 2005. The aim of Tescopoly Alliance is to highlight and challenge the negative influences of Tesco's activity on small business, community and environment along its supply chains worldwide, especially in UK. The welcome message on the blog states: "Tesco now controls 30% of the grocery market in the UK. In 2007, the supermarket chain announced over £2.5 billion in profits. Growing evidence indicates that Tesco's success is partly based on trading practices that are having serious consequences for suppliers, farmers and workers worldwide, local shops and the environment."

30. Amazon bookstore blog

This site represents a group blog. Its authors are part of Amazon's staff. In "About" section there's a messages that begins with: "Mix one part casual anthropologist with two parts avid reader, add the occasional culinary inspiration and a penchant for haiku, and what you end up with is Anne Bartholomew. When she's not working her way through the books on her nightstand, Anne tests new recipes and wishes she could write like Billy Collins."

The list continues with the blogs:

31. Seeking Alpha: Retail

Law

32. Square Mile Law

33. Overlawyered

34. The Becker-Posner Blog

Transport

35. The Ticket Collector

36. Going Underground

Technology

37. Scobeleizer

38. Jonathan's Blog

39. The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs

40. Boing Boing

41. Buzz Machine

42. TechCrunch

43. direct2dell.com

Telecoms

44. Charles Dunstone's Blog

45. ABI Research: Wireless

46. NT Hell

47. The Mobile Weblog

Utilities

48. The Energy Blog

49. CleanTech Blog

50. Gas Guide