Yeah, it was just a thought. And soon I found my mind playing tricky pranky games of endless questioning with me. I sought an escape, but none was in sight. What could I do but yield?

So out I set to seek answers. And before long, I had all the pieces I needed: off-the-subversion open source software, low-cost video and audio recording devices, cheap hosting, vibrant online communities, and a whole lot’a fresh and untapped talent I discovered in my hunt.

All was left was for someone to bring the pieces together. Thus weblogsAFRICA was born, at least in my mind.

And step after, we’re pretty close to the vision. We’d like to share with the world the passion and the stories of the heroic young women and men who are braving the odds and conquering new frontiers to create wealth for their countries and the continent at large.

And how are we getting on? We’re pretty close to launching, but we’re not there yet. You can follow our updates via SMS, IM or on the web @ http://twitter.com/weblogsAFRICA. We’ve also got a dedicated Facebook group, and I encourage all readers to join and invite your friends to do the same.

Here’s a slideshow of how Guy Kawasaki built Truemours, a Web 2.0, user-generated content, citizen journalism, long-tail, social media site, for a grand total of $12,107.09. The full blog post is here.

Whoa! I signed up for immediately LinkedIn during it’s public beta stage, but never quite got to actively using it to build contacts. For a long time my profile had been languishing at just 5% completeness.

But now need to actively build those professional contacts … so I spent an hour this morning to work on my profile.

I really surprised myself with how much I could do in just an hour. Equally surprising was the rather large number of college mates who are already linked in on LinkedIn — ALL of whom currently reside in US or Europe.

After the profile is in a good shape, I’ll then start actively building my network of professional contacts, which is currently languishing at just 5%

For the past two years, I’ve been an Internet addict. I’ve spent a huge amount of time online following the latest trends and innovations in new media and social networking, and the businesses and individuals that are steering them. I’ve seen many young people start from scratch with nothing more than their ideas, and built great businesses that serve millions and hundreds of thousands of users today.

And I’ve also observed with keen interest, how individual writers are jumping in to to make their own small fortunes by tracking the ecosystem of these new businesses. Unlike big media houses, these indy publishers have great communities around their content, fun and interesting conversations often take place.

Here are my top 5 of these websites that actively track online business startups.

1. TechCrunch: Michael Arrington does a good job of bringing the scoop from online business startups, often several weeks before they’re open to the public. The sites archives is a great resource for studying the progression of the new breed of online businesses, some of which are currently doing very well, some barely surviving, and others already in TechCrunch’s deadpool.
2. Mashable: I call Mashable the bible of social networking. Mashable tracks all the latest from the biggest social networking communities, and the new breed of businesses that are springing up to provide top-up services withing these communities.
3. VentureBeat: Written by Matt Marshall, VentureBeat (formerly SiliconBeat) has been my go-to source for news and information about private companies and the venture capital that fuels them.
4. GigaOM: Om Malik writes about the web, mobile and broadband technologies. It’s my favorite source for all-round geek stuff, as it’s Om is not entirely focused on startups like the other three above.
5. PodTech: PodTech does in audio and video what the above four do in text. It’s always been a great blessing for me, sitting behind my computer in Accra, and watching interviews and demonstrations from some of the greatest technology and business leaders in Silicon Valley. Recently, PodTech.Net has evolved from a purely content producer to a full-fledged online video network, hosting content across all subject areas, from the most serious stuff to the most funny.