Google has launched several new features for Google Blog Search today. These are: RSS AND Atom feeds, an iGoogle gadget, a "hot queries" features, and a "latest posts" feature.

RSS and Atom Feeds

Google says the addition of the feeds has been its most requested feature for Blog Search. Users can subscribe to specific topics or stories. There is a "subscribe" heading in the left-hand column on the site, and underneath that are links for Atom and RSS.

iGoogle Gadget

The gadget lets users embed the Google Blog Search front page on their iGoogle homepage (or other pages that are compatible with iGoogle gadgets). Within the gadget, users can customize the topics they want to follow and "drill into" stories as they wish.

Hot Queries

Hot queries is a feature that has actually been added to the Google Blog Search front page. It's pretty much what it sounds like. It listsl searches that are currently popular in Blog Search. Google says it's "an easy way to quickly dive into the trending points of conversation on the web." If you're not a Twitter user, it's probably a good alternative to Twitter's trending topics.

Latest Posts

Latest posts is also an addition to the Google Blog Search homepage. It shows new posts from popular blogs. "While Hot Queries highlights what people are looking for, Latest Posts lets you find out about stories even before people start searching for them," says Google on the company blog.

I'd say the new features are an upgrade for Google Blog Search. Would you agree?

GoDaddy is sometimes hard to take seriously; its marketing department seems to be run by the same bunch of teenage boys in charge of Axe commercials.  But GoDaddy is still the world's largest domain registrar, and it's poised to help Twitter with a new step in its registration process.

GoDaddy seems to have made the assumption that anyone wanting to create a website will also want to establish a presence on Twitter.  Adam Ostrow reports that it's actually "integrated Twitter registration into its domain manager, allowing you to see if the Twitter username that matches your URL is available, and if so, register it."

This says a great deal about how important Twitter has become to the people at GoDaddy (and indeed, you can find GoDaddyDeals, GoDaddyJobs, and GoDaddyGuy Twitter accounts, with that last one being rather popular and putting out about ten tweets per day). 

It says something about what GoDaddy thinks its customers want, too.

And since every single GoDaddy customer probably hasn't been switching back and forth between the domain registrar and Twitter while trying to name a company, this development may introduce Twitter to a lot of new people.

Twitter has started linking hashtags in tweets to Twitter searches. A few other Twitterers have started to notice as well:


The move makes sense, considering that the hashtag phenomenon has reach tremendous popularity. They often appear in the trending topics.

The move also illustrates a greater emphasis being placed on Twitter Search, which only this year has become a focus of the company. It wasn't that long ago that it was added to the Twitter home page, and it is already sparking big interest in real-time search throughout the entire search industry.

We'll admit it from the start; this development doesn't amount to Google's execs weeping while singing "My Country, 'Tis of Thee."  Still, a sort of self-promotional Fourth of July blog post from the search giant may be of interest to you as we head into the weekend.

If you haven't figured out how you're going to celebrate the Fourth, you may be able to get some ideas by using Google Maps.  Elaine Filadelfo of the Lat Long Blog Team writes, "If you'll be in DC . . . you can find a map of the various events going on throughout the holiday weekend and a map of fireworks shows throughout the entire region."

Or if you're planning to spend time elsewhere in the country, there are plenty of other events maps available, including ones for Baltimore, the Milwaukee region, Myrtle Beach New Hampshire, Northern Alabama, the San Francisco Bay Area, South Central Indiana, and Western Michigan.

Finally, if you intend to do your own thing, Filadelfo writes, "[Y]ou can make your own My Map to show friends how to get to your BBQ or where exactly in the park you plan to meet to catch the fireworks."

Anybody who's going to be close to his or her computer might keep an eye out for a special Google Doodle, too; last year's is pictured below.

It may have taken the Yahoo property a little while, but Flickr's now fully embracing Twitter.  Today, a "Flickr 2 Twitter" feature launched, and Flickr also committed itself to keeping and updating a Twitter account.

Let's start with the Flickr 2 Twitter development.  As a Flickr representative explained in an email to WebProNews, Flickr 2 Twitter is "a new way for Flickr members to easily post images to Twitter."

The representative then provided some instructions, continuing, "To use Flickr 2 Twitter, members need to first authorize Flickr to post to their Twitter accounts.  Once authorized, members will be able to tweet photos from the 'Blog This' button on their photo page or from their mobile devices.  Mobile uploading is possible once members enable their Upload by Email settings (unique Flickr email upload address + '2twitter')."

The sort of tweet that will result can be seen below.  Insert your own "worth 1,000 words vs. 140 characters" joke here.

Then there's the matter of Flickr's new Twitter account, which as you might have guessed, is @Flickr.  Although its first tweet appeared on the 17th, Flickr only officially committed to the account today.