In its first major upgrade ever, Google Blogsearch just relaunched and looks radically different. Instead of the blank page look of Google.com, Blogsearch now looks like Google News (but uglier) - with the hottest topics from the blogosphere aggregated on the front page. Readers can drill down in 11 different categories, from technology, business, sports and entertainment. Google says you can use Blogsearch to see what the world is talking about.

The user interface isn't nearly as nice as leading tech blog memetracker Techmeme, but the new Blogsearch has some major advantages.

Read more: readwriteweb.com 

Labels: blogging, blogs, Blogsearch, search

In a post on its newly opened blog, Too, Sergey Brin, one of the two co-founders of Google, has decided to speak about a sensitive issue: he carries a specific gene mutation that increases his likelihood of contracting Parkinson’s disease.

Sergey Brin has discovered through 23andMe, the genetics testing start-up co-founded by his wife, Anne Wojcicki, that he carries a particular mutation of the LRRK2, the gene responsible for Parkinson’s. The mutation, known as G2019S, is rare even among people with the disease, but in some ethnic groups, accounts for a substantial proportion of familial Parkinson's.

Based on these findings, Sergey Brin said that he has higher chance of developing Parkinson's in his lifetime than the average person.

“In fact, it is somewhere between 20% to 80% depending on the study and how you measure,” he wrote.

Brin’s mother, who already has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s, carries the same genetic mutation.

Read more: efluxmedia.com 

Labels: Blogger, blogging, blogs, Blogspot, Parkinson’s, Sergey Brin

Google Weblogs, or “GWeblogs,” or “Gblogs,” which will launch later this year in a public beta, is the next revolution in personal publishing. Here’s what you can expect:

Don’t limit yourself to “reverse chronological” publishing. Our advanced Google algorithms put your best content at the top of your blog. Even if your later work goes downhill your previous posts will still shine.

No more template languages to mess with or sidebars to get right. Our advanced Google algorithms automatically populate your blog’s sidebar with the most relevant possible content.
Stop worrying about your PageRank or your search engine optimization. Post directly into Google search results for maximum visibility.

Save your readers time and effort. We’ll automatically extract the most relevant sentence from your post for the index page, along with any necessary ellipsis. We'll also put some words in bold!

Your blog’s header will stay fresh with new images from our team of artists, each and every anniversary of a scientific achievement.

Unsure of what to post about? Just click “I’m Feeling Lucky” and we’ll “take care” of the rest!

Read more: buzz.blogger.com 

Labels: April Fools, blogging, blogs, Gblogs, GWeblogs, Weblogs

Google has provided the IP address of an anonymous blogger to an Israeli court as part of a defamation case, according to the Globes Online.

The defamation case centers on allegations against three members of the Shaarei Tikva council posted on Blogger, including posts that suggested the council members took bribes, pretended to be disabled to gain tax advantages, and that the councilmen have links to organized crime. The councilmen asked the court to order Google to hand over the IP address details of the anonymous blogger but the court did not order Google to do so. Instead Google entered into an arrangement where by they would contact the blogger and give him or her 3 days to respond anonymously to the allegations. There was no response from the blogger so Google handed over the IP address to the court and plantiffs despite there being no legal requirement for them to do so.

Full story: techcrunch.com 

Labels: Blogger, blogging, blogs, Israel

As you videobloggers already know, you can upload your videos directly to Blogger. But for the rest of the video watchers out there, did you know you can just as easily post YouTube videos to your blog?

All you need to do is set up your YouTube account to post videos to your blog using the "Share" button. You'll enter your Blogger information once, and from then on it's one-click sharing from any YouTube video page!

Read more: buzz.blogger.com 

Labels: Blogger, blogging, blogs, youtube