By Leslie Walker

Sunday, July 13, 2003; Page F07

The "blogosphere" may never be the same after America Online releases free blog-publishing software to its 34 million members this summer.

AOL this month began showing demos of its tools for creating Web logs, or blogs, to veteran bloggers. AOL has dubbed its service "AOL Journals" because its surveys showed that members found the word "blogs" confusing, said Rick Robinson, AOL's vice president for community products.

Whatever you call them, the idea is a Web page that people can update frequently with commentary and links to material they find interesting online. Blog software automates posting the commentary, images and links.

AOL will give members three ways to update their blogs -- through an online template with blank boxes for text input, through AOL's instant-messaging system or by telephone. The phone option will be available only to subscribers to the extra-cost "AOL by Phone" service, who will be able to leave voice messages that will be posted as MP3 sound files.

To publish via instant messaging, AOL members will send a text message to an IM software "bot" -- or automated script -- that will post the message to the user's blog. The IM posting will work only with AOL's internal messaging system, not its free AOL Instant Messenger program. Robinson said this would be a quicker way to publish than navigating to a Web page to type into a form: "You might have a fleeting thought you want to capture, and you don't want to take the extra few seconds to go and open up the publishing interface."

Robinson said AOL Journals will support a popular syndication system called RSS that lets people use news-reading software to get updates automatically from blogs they like. AOL members will also be able to post photos from the service's "You've Got Pictures" area in their blogs.

The new service will be made available to all AOL subscribers later this summer as part of the preview version of AOL's new "9.0 Optimized" software.

America Online is launching another feature tomorrow. This one's aimed at users of TiVo, the digital video recorder for television. AOL members with TiVo boxes will be able to program them via AOL by typing in the keyword "TV Listings," clicking on the show they want to record and clicking "record to my TiVo DVR." The free AOL service requires a Series 2 TiVo recording device.

The joke has been circling the Internet since February, but only recently did it tickle the global funny bone enough to become the top listing on Google for searches on "weapons of mass destruction." Now that top ranking has become part of the joke.

Type that phrase into Google, click the "I'm feeling lucky" button, and you'll get a fake "error" page parodying the lengthy explanation Internet Explorer provides when it can't find a Web site. The fake page reads, in part, "The weapons you are looking for are currently unavailable. The country might be experiencing technical difficulties, or you may need to adjust your weapons inspectors mandate."

The page is the handiwork of 34-year-old Anthony Cox, a pharmacist in Birmingham, England. Cox said in an e-mail that the page he created before the Iraq war was a "niche in-joke" until it got so widely linked; now it draws 2.5 million daily visits.

"These are pretty dark days," Cox said. "I just hope it made some people laugh."

www.coxar.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk

E-mail Leslie Walker at walkerl@washpost.com.