Everyone's mentioning it today; some doubt(ed), but it seems true: Google is purchasing Pyra Labs - the company behind the runaway success blogger.com: Story first released here: Dan Gilmour eJournal: Google Buys Pyra: Blogging Goes Big-Time (via the Google Weblog)

One thing seems clear; Blogging, having long time been a kind of egaliterian, independent-style form of publishing is going mainstream. Big time! We'll just wait and see what happens and how some new and old companies will profit from it. Most importantly I think it is a great step in the direction of people to get their voices out and online. Let's get those "Weblogs for dummies" books out there and convince people that original content rather than memes, me-too's, links links and more links is the way to go for getting a readership (this article proving that sometimes I miss the point too ;-) )

Update: also in the news recently:

New biz on the blog

If recent rumours are to be believed, AOL is getting ready to add blogging to the homepage services it offers users in the next month or so. It's a sign of how far these regularly updated pages of web links with personal comment have come in the past five years. (via webmasterworld)

Google, which runs the Web's premier search site, has purchased Pyra Labs, a San Francisco company that created some of the earliest technology for writing weblogs, the increasingly popular personal and opinion journals.

The Thursday buyout is a huge boost to an enormously diverse genre of online publishing -- also known as "blogging" -- that has begun to change the equations of online news and information.

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