The hottest topic of discussion on the blogosphere today is Technorati's new revamp. The blog search engine pioneer is branching out and trying to capture what the company calls "the live Web", capturing video, photos, blogs and hot topics. And much as Google's recently announced Hot Trends feature highlights rising topics for discussion, Technorati has long tracked the "Top Tags" or "Top Searches" from their front page, and today's launch takes their story up a notch.

But amid all the positive press, from TechCrunch, Mashable, Robert Scoble and others, is a minority current saying that Technorati, in this age of Google, just might not be relevant any more. In his usual blunt fashion, Steve Rubel says simply, "Blog Search is Dead and Google Killed It".

There is no secret that Google is the search leader. Statistics on my personal blog and elsewhere show that Google and all its derivatives drive 85-90% of search traffic, dwarfing the also-rans, including Yahoo!, MSN, and the rest. Now, it could be argued that Google is to search what Microsoft was to the Operating System.

When Microsoft embedded Internet Explorer into the Windows operating system, it spelled the deathknell for Netscape Navigator. Customers felt the free browser that came standard was "good enough", and the act of downloading or paying for Netscape was too much to take on. Though Microsoft was charged with monopolist practices and nearly broken to pieces, they won and Netscape died.

There's a strong chance Google could be doing the same thing to Web upstarts by adding new search functionality. As Rubel writes, Google's integration of blog search negates the need for dedicated, vertical search like Technorati, IceRocket or Feedster. The Google Blog Search is "good enough" for 90% of the users, leaving only us technogeeks who demand the upper crust of technology innovation. And while Google is expected to "Do No Evil", their adding of free Web-based e-mail significantly challenged Yahoo! and others, their integrated RSS feed reader has removed the need for downloadable feed readers, and the company continues to expand.

Technorati could very much become the next Netscape, evaporated by a big monolith with an unparalleled brand and scads of cash in the bank. So while CEO Dave Sifry asks you to Come check out the refreshed www.technorati.com, it probably isn't going to have a radical change in the company's fortunes for the long term. I love Technorati's widgets. Every single blog post I have lets you see "blog reactions" in Technorati, and the Technorati Authority tag separates the leading blogs from the newbies and also-rans. But Google's blog search functionality is "Good Enough" for me in most cases, and will be for the majority of Web users. I can root for Technorati all day long, but the threat from Google to pound them the way Microsoft did Netscape is very real.

This evening, after work, I settled down in front of the TiVo, expecting to find last night's season finale of The Simpsons. Long anticipated, knowing the finale was to feature Keifer Sutherland and Mary Lynn Rajskub of "24" in a mashup of the two popular Fox shows, I was shocked to find The Simpsons nowhere on my TiVo listings at all.

Due to an unfortunate season pass error, a rerun of Gilmore Girls (not my idea, trust me) had overtaken Marge, Homer, Bart, Lisa and Maggie's would-be dual offering. Lucky for me, the Internet was there to back me up. Though I typically steer clear of the peer to peer sharing networks, I believe that if every intent is made to obtain media through mainstream means, they do offer an acceptable alternative, especially for free media like broadcast television. (Side note: If The Simpsons were available on iTunes, I'd have gone there instead)

Sure enough, both episodes of The Simpsons from Sunday were available in crystal clear quality. Clocking in around 174 megabytes apiece , the two AVI files opened up in QuickTime, and delivered the amusement I was seeking. Despite the fact I watched both episodes on my 15-inch PowerBook instead of on the 42-inch plasma TV, the viewing experience was excellent. While The Simpsons can vary from week to week, both shows were very solid, including the excellent 24 mashup parody involving the "Counter Truancy Unit" or... CTU.


Click Either Image to Enlarge and View Higher Quality

As you can see in the inline snapshots, the quality of online video is nearing that of DVDs. Thanks to easy access and high speed broadband, the delay to download didn't make much of an impact. While I'd prefer to have gotten the shows off TiVo or iTunes, BitTorrent sure did come in handy.

When it comes to music and other media, I typically try not to be suckered into falling for the latest promotions and commercials, or buying into the hot band. But tonight, after seeing Blonde Redhead perform their song "23" on the Late Night with Conan O'Brien show (a TiVo'd episode from Friday), I just had to check out the iTunes Music Store and pick it up.

As one reviewer on iTunes said, the lead singer, Kazu Mikano, offers up a soothingly indecipherable croon, a nice way of saying she sounds great, but I have no idea what is being sung. Yet, like Bjork, the pure tone and melody is entrancing.

I can't vouch for the rest of the album or the six others iTunes reports the band has delivered, but I expect "23" will be rotating on my playlist for weeks to come before fading down the inevitable road to obscurity.

Valleywag at first sounded like a great idea - a rumors site focused on the Silicon Valley, covering all things geek, mixed with a flair for gossip, sex and innuendo. What could be more fun?

But, to be honest, the site's daily postings are getting tired. Rather than posting one or two stories a day of really good, insightful stuff, backed by anonymous sources, inside scoops and top-notch writing, the site has gone flaccid. Valleywag now is posting items to the tune of six to eight posts a day, and with the added frequency comes a complete void of new information. Today, I was slightly amused to see they took a pair of stories I covered over the last year and blasted them to their front page as hot off the press scandal.

Exhibit 1

In August of 2006, I commented that Web 2.0 companies were "playing with error messages", covering a few choice errors from YouTube and MySpace who toyed with users during downtime:

Web 2.0 Companies Play With Error Messages

January 31 of 2007, I specifically called out Technorati for not scaling to beat Google, instead entertaining customers with fun graphical error messages.

Scoble's Right: Technorati Isn't Scaling to Beat Google

I also noted other Web 2.0 error messages on January 24 (Silly YouTube - Where's The Redundancy?) and on March 2, when LinkedIn pulled a similar stunt. (LinkedIn Provides Another Silly Web 2.0 "Error" Page)

Yet, today Valleywag pulls a banner story, trumpeting "Error messages", saying "Could we all make a resolution? When a site is down, as Technorati is right now, please cut the cute jokes." Wow - Technorati plays with error messages. Shocker.

Exhibit 2

On Saturday, I noted how Steve Jobs had endorsed Al Gore for president in a rare interview with Time Magazine, where he wasn't promoting Apple, but instead his good friend and board member. (Steve Jobs Nominates Al Gore for President)

But again, Valleywag follows along, saying "While Apple fanatics usually jump on every word out of Jobs' mouth, they appear content to keep this political endorsement as quiet as... well, as quiet as Al Gore kept the internal Apple options investigation..." 'We need somebody who knows how to build a ladder'

I'm not used to seeing a breaking news rumor site be so far behind my pedestrian notes. So, Valleywag, if you want to be a little faster on the draw, simply subscribe to my RSS feed or sign up via e-mail, so you can keep getting those scoops!