Tom Markiewicz

Well, I saw this one coming (and really, who didn’t?). Google launched its Google Blog Search today (via Steve Rubel, Charlene Li) and it looks impressive. Using a ping server to primarily update its results as opposed to its web crawlers, the Google Blog Search will be competing directly with Technorati, BlogDigger, Feedster, DayPop and the like.
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Slashdot reported this morning that Google is now providing RSS and Atom feeds for its Google News site, pointing out that the functionality previously only available in its email alert service can now be delivered via feeds. Details for usage can be found from Google here.

What I find interesting is the continuing push of all major web outlets to be providing feeds. Despite the numbers being reported on the penetration of feeds, those using feeds will only continue to grow as they are continually added to existing services the average web visitor uses.

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I tested Google’s new personalized home page features today and I definitely think there is great potential. I currently use My Yahoo as my main “home page” and portal to stocks and news (not as a feed reader though - I still feel FeedDemon is the best RSS reader out there). To be honest though, I don’t use any other Yahoo services, but I do use Google’s search engine, Google alerts, and I’m migrating my Hotmail account over to Gmail (albeit very slowly). As Google integrates more features (how about the portfolio tracking functionality similar to My Yahoo?), I can easily see it becoming a strong force in the consumer portal competition. The current features of the personalized Google are limited (Google News, movies, Gmail, weather, basic stock quotes, word of the day, quote of the day, and news from Wired, Slashdot, BBC, and New York Times) but give the user a nice overview and really a taste of what’s to come. And as usual, it’s done with the satisfying air of Google simplicity.

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BusinessWeek may have one of the worst designed web sites, in terms of user readability, that I’ve come across recently. The placement of animated ads in three areas above the fold, immediately makes me search for the “printer-friendly version” link. It’s the only way I can read their articles. Not exactly the desired behavior. Take a look.

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Rob Pegoraro of the Washington Post lists the best places on the web to follow baseball games. As MLB charges for live video feeds (that aren’t great quality anyway), monitoring games on the web is the next best thing for fans.
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The Washington Post has an insightful article on click fraud.

To Texas-based Auctions Expert International LLC, it was an easy way to make money on the Internet. Sign up with Google, which functions as a kind of online ad agency, and agree to let the online giant place ads on your Web site. Then, every time someone clicks on one of the ads, the advertiser pays a fee, and Google shares that fee with Auctions Expert.

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I at first thought this site was some kind of late April Fools joke, but no, its true. And somehow, I’m strangely fascinated by it. How can you resist a site where you can request an object be melted by a solar death ray?

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What’s Next Online has an excellent post that explains most major aspects of RSS in a non-techie way (via Blogging Pro).

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The Washington Post has launched a new blog focused on security called Security Fix.
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With the NHL hockey season officially lost, some fans are taking matters into their own hands. An article in today’s WSJ discusses how some fans are coming to grips without NHL. Taking fantasy sports one step further, WhatIfSports.com allows users to simulate entire seasons using any combinations of past or present players. WhatIfSports says the participation in their hockey sports simulation games have increased 40-50%. With links from the NHL site, their traffic has been spiking. Raised outside of Pittsburgh and being a Penguins fan, I desperately miss the NHL (ok, not as much as if it were the NFL). But this simulation stuff may be taking it a little bit to far…

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