Bloggasm

As someone who uses Google News on a daily basis to search specific key words in the news, I’ve watched with dismay as more and more blog posts turn up in the search results. Though Google doesn’t automatically index every blog that turns up in the news index, I’ve read from several sources that it’s not all that hard to get included: all you have to do is ask, and very often they will include you.

Obviously, there are plenty of incentives to get included in Google News, by doing so you open yourself up to more hits from search results. And no doubt many bloggers will label this as a victory for bloggers seeking to get noticed as “real” journalists.

But since I rely on Google News on a daily basis to help me find topics to blog about, I’m not as happy as some about Google’s decision to include blogs in their search results. Here’s why:

If I wanted to know what blogs are saying about a topic, I’d do a blog search

There are already several search engines that allow me to comb through blogs for specific topics. Google has its own blog search, and there’s Technorati, which even manages to rank blogs into terms of authority. By having them also indexed in Google News, it’s just creating a redundancy, just as if videos would show up in Google Audio searches simply because the video has “audio” contained in them. By separating blog searches from news searches, we’re able to hone in on what we want more quickly.

Blogs and news articles are still mostly two different kinds of media

This is the one that I’m sure will get a few people annoyed. Malcolm Gladwell has an excellent blog post called “The Derivative Myth” that talks about this very subject. For the most part, blogs are still mainly commentators on what the Mainstream Media is reporting. Are there examples of investigative reporting from bloggers? Yes, of course. But to date, I subscribe to and read over 200 blogs a week, most of which are some of the most powerful on the internet, and the vast majority of them don’t contact sources for interviews or do any research other than google searches. There may come a time when bloggers do begin to conduct extensive research, but until then I still view them as mainly filters for which news articles get the most attention.

Too much white noise.

Recent calculations say that there are anywhere from 30 million to 50 million blogs out there. If enough bloggers contact Google News to be included in their search results, they will easily outnumber non-blog news services by many millions. It will get to the point where Google News searches will be no different from Google Blog searches, and it will be next-to-impossible just to find articles on any subject that aren’t reported by blogs. This has already become a problem for me, since some search words I type into Google news already give me a page full of blog posts, making me comb through page after page looking for articles that don’t come from blogs.

***

Perhaps, if need be, there could be a compromise. Let Google News put in a function where if a user wants, he or she can filter out all blog posts in their searches. This way, the bloggers can have their victory in being included in Google News, and people like me can sort through that day’s news more efficiently.

When you type in the word “gay” into Google and then try to translate it to the Arabic language, predictably enough the translations are derogatory in nature. Many gay rights groups have spoken up about this, and now Google is going to fix the problem:

When the word “gay” is entered into Google’s translation tools, the word “luti” is returned, an Arabic equivalent of “sodomite”, to the ire of gay activists.

The translation tools of Google, one of the world’s leading internet corporations, are widely available on both Google’s website and in downloadable software.

In response, Google has vowed to ameliorate the issue shortly.

As always when it comes to search engines, there’s a debate to how much Google should tamper with their search results. Though I’m in favor of these changes, I’m also wary of the cultural contexts for the translations. As the article points out, there aren’t many non-derogatory words for “gay” yet in the Arabic language, since until recently there was no fight for gay rights in the Arab world.

Related posts: Interview with Queerty, Microsoft employees don’t even use MSN search

There’s a man from Scotland who is renovating an entire warehouse so that it’s designed for tech nerds. Though the houses will be priced in between £200,000 and £500,000, each apartment will come equipped with the latest in digital technology, and each household appliance will be connected to an online interface so that the residents can even control them from outside the apartment:

A DISUSED warehouse in Leith is set to be transformed into Scotland’s most hi-tech block of flats by a young city entrepreneur.

Shaf Rasul, who made his fortune by selling blank DVDs and computer parts and is now worth £102 million, plans to fit out the 80 flats with the latest gadgets and gizmos.

Buyers will be asked to spend between £200,000 and £500,000 for their new home, but it will come complete with some of the most advanced technology available.

The place will no-doubt be tech-geek heaven.

Related posts: Marvel Comics to allow fans to place their characters in their own home-made comics, How much will consumer electronics (gadgets) affect global warming?, Interview with PSP Hacks

Spurned on by the terrible media coverage of the 2000 election, John Hawking launched Right Wing News in early 2001. Since then, he has become a full-time political blogger, acting as a watchdog on the Mainstream Media and updating regularly on every weekday.

Simon Owens: What are some of the biggest problems that Republicans are going to have in the upcoming elections?

John Hawkins: The McCain/Reid/Kennedy Immigration Bill in the Senate, out-of-control spending, Iraqi War weariness, and George Bush’s low approval ratings — in that order.

Simon Owens: Do you think that political blogs are much more open to dialog and responding to criticism than other forms of media?

John Hawkins: Sure, but that’s not saying much. The mainstream media tends to be unresponsive to their audience, ignore almost all criticism they receive, and they’re slow to correct their mistakes if they ever correct them at all. That’s why they’ve been slowly but surely losing audience share: they don’t respond to the needs and desires of their audience.

Simon Owens: Do political blogs act as a checks-and-balance system on the Mainstream Media? Are there any good examples of this checks-and-balance other than Rathergate?

John Hawkins: Countering the drive-by media isn’t really about scandals like Rathergate; it’s about getting the other side of the story out there. The MSM talks up a big “scandal” that leaves out a lot of key details that are favorable to conservatives. The blogosphere and talk radio fill in the gaps. Then, a day or two later, the stories turn up on Fox, in the Washington Times and on Drudge — and the slanted story the MSM was trying to tell comes unraveled. That’s a regular occurrence in these days and times and it’s because of the blogosphere, talk radio, and the other members of the new media.

Simon Owens: Are there any liberal blogs that you read that you’re able to tolerate and respect?

John Hawkins: Political Wire, Wonkette, and Kausfiles are my favorite left-of-center blogs.

Simon Owens: What are some of the most misguided liberal blogs that you know of?

John Hawkins: All of them! If they weren’t misguided, they’d be conservatives!

Simon Owens: What are the five blogs you’d recommend to supplement the reading of your own?

John Hawkins: Michelle Malkin, Instapundit, The Corner, Betsy’s Page, and Ace of Spades HQ.

(Related posts: Interview with Liberal Oasis, War still raging over book that casts Cuba in a favoring light, Interview with Jim Henley from Unqualified Offerings)

Damian Penny is a lawyer in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Canada. Inspired by the aftermath to 9/11 and popular sites like InstaPundit.com, He started up his weblog, Daimnation!, in October, 2001. His site - which concentrates primarily on international affairs, but also Canadian politics, pop culture, cars and sports - is affiliated with Blogging Tories and Pajamas Media.

Simon Owens: As a Canadian blogger, do you think a lot of American’s flock to your blog in order to get an outside view on US policy?

Damian Penny: My site gets a lot of readers from the United States, and some of them may be motivated by a desire to get an “outside view” of world affairs and American policy. However, my opinions are generally pro-American and supportive of the war on terror, so I think many of my U.S. readers see the site as little different from one of their homegrown blogs.

Simon Owens: Do you think that bloggers who interact with bloggers from other countries are more likely to get both sides of every story?

Damian Penny: Absolutely. Right now, Shire Network News, a weekly podcast to which I provide audio commentaries is running a discussion between an Australian-Israeli blogger and a blogger from Egypt. The listeners are richer for the experience. My own site gets comments and feedback from all over the world, and I think it makes my site much better.

Simon Owens: Are blogs slowly becoming a watch-dog group on the Mainstream Media?

Damian Penny: Yes, especially in the wake of “Rathergate.” But blogs will never replace the mainstream media - the newspapers and TV networks have resources far beyond what we have, though some sites are adding more and more original reporting. You’re already seeing MSM organizations start their own blogs, hire well-known bloggers (like Andrew Sullivan, now blogging for Time), and generally do what they can to co-opt this new format.

Simon Owens: Is there a Canadian version of the New York Times that Candian blogs try to constantly monitor for factual mistakes?

Damian Penny: Probably the Globe and Mail, which calls itself “Canada’s National Newspaper”. Mark Collins, one of my co-bloggers, is regularly all over its articles. The Toronto Star and CBC also come in for a lot of criticism on the right, while Canadian left-wing bloggers turn their guns on the National Post and Global television.

Simon Owens: Do you think that a lot of conservative American blogs are somewhat hostile towards Canadian blogs because they don’t exactly agree with a lot of Canadian policy?

Damian Penny: I’ve never had the impression that American blogs were hostile toward Canadian bloggers. Hostile toward some of our government’s policies, perhaps, but not the bloggers.

Simon Owens: What are the five blogs you’d recommend to supplement the reading of your own?

Damian Penny: Here in Canada, I recommend Steve Janke, Kathy Shaidle, Colby Cosh, Greg Staples and Sari Stein. Also, if you can convince Bob Tarantino to resume blogging, I’d really appreciate it.

(Related posts: Interview with Terminus, Interview with Matt Welch, assistant opinion editor for the Los Angeles Times, Interview with Michael Ubaldi from ublog)

Playboy has decided to take celebrity look-alikes to a whole new level. In next month’s issue, a Paris Hilton look-alike will be posing nude for the magazine. Apparently, she looks so much like Hilton that she was invited to the celebrity’s house to meet her in person.

Which begs the question: Will the look-alike be good enough? Especially when a trip to any video search will bring up nude sex video of the real Paris Hilton?

Related posts: Interview with Laurence Simon from This Blog is Full of Crap, Feminist porn, The hardships of owning a brothel, Interview with Tobias Buckell

One thing that perplexes many bloggers is the fact that many mainstream news outlets like Fox News and MSNBC continue to invite Ann Coulter onto their shows. So she says outrageous, controversial things: so what? You can find any number of nutballs on the street who can say things even more outrageous things than her, and this doesn’t explain why she is allowed to weigh in on very important issues, as if her side is one on the balance scale that goes equally with the other side. This is the woman who, in her new book Godless, calls evolution “the atheist’s creation myth.”

Thanksfully, another newspaper has decided to drop her column, after a reader poll showed that everyone who read the newspaper hated her.

Following on the heels of daily papers in Augusta, Ga., and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a weekly in Greensboro, N.C., has decided to drop Ann Coulter’s regular column, distributed by Universal.

“Yes! Weekly”, which has carried the conservative firebrand since last August, announced the move after polling its readers, among other considerations. She will be replaced by another conservative, William F. Buckley.

This follows the pattern at the other papers that had dropped Coulter, where she was replaced by conservatives Michelle Malkin in one case, David Limbaugh in the other.

A fourth paper, the Shreveport (La.) Times, has said it is strongly considering dropping Coulter.

Mainstream News Outlets should all issue a boycott against Ann Coulter, and stop allowing her to come on to promote her shitty, dishonest (and plagerized, recent reports show) book. It’s utterly ridiculous that she’s brought on as a “consultant” to many important debates.

Related posts: Interview with Demagogue, Even Gay Princes aren’t safe, Interview with Andrew Olmsted