For the past year or two, bloggers have put up with mainstream media articles that suggest we’re nothing but a crazed online lynch mob looking for trouble.
Well, the focus is about to shift somewhat, as it appears those that comment on blogs are starting to wield an unhealthy amount of power. I’m not talking about the average blog commentator - who provides value, even with criticism - I’m talking about the disturbing news that

Did you enjoy the spring weather this weekend? If you were outside for most of the weekend, you likely missed the debate on the future of print news, started by a rumor from Tim O’Reilly.
I’m hearing rumors that the San Francisco Chronicle is in big trouble. Apparently, Phil Bronstein, the editor-in-chief, told staff in a recent “emergency meeting” that the news business “is broken, and no one knows how to fix it.

Robert Scoble used to work at MSFT, but he was never really one to show a strong bias to the company. So, when the world’s most discussed tech blogger makes the claim that Microsoft is better at research than Google, you tend to take note.
Backing up his claim is a video tour of Microsoft’s research department. Better than Google? Anyone care to argue? One thing worth noting, Google has millions of researchers in its department - ye

Over at BlogKits, Jim Kukral asks why popular bloggers like Robert Scoble, Jason Calacanis, Mark Cuban, Guy Kawasaki & Seth Godin aren’t doing a better job of monetizing their traffic?
It’s a great question and one that Jim asked of many other bloggers, including me…
I certainly think that Guy and Seth are mostly leveraging their blogs for promoting their own books, so it may not make sense to distract readers by including ads for other sites

This will likely be the last news post until after Christmas. Here’s what’s caught my attention today.

Avinash Kaushik discusses the merits of javascript analytics over web log files.
Robert Scoble has re-discovered banner ads. He explains how Texas Instruments’ banner ads managed to catch his attention.
Mashable is reporting LinkedIn has secured new funding which suggests the company has a $250 million value.
Social media expert, Neil Patel, explains why some SEO web sites are being banned by Digg

I used to be among those that felt using a partial-text RSS feed would bring more people to my site. About a year ago, I realized the error of my ways - mostly because I figured Robert Scoble would never subscribe (you do now though, right Robert?) - and switched to full text feeds.
Amanda Watlington and Stephen Spencer both talked about the positive benefits of a full text RSS feed at SES, and now we have further evidence from an experiment Amit Agarwal ran on his blog.
Growth in RSS Subscribers

Normal blogging service will resume tomorrow. In the meantime, here’s the best of today’s news stories.

TurnHere will film, edit and produce an Internet video ad for you for just $300!
You no longer need a website to use Google AdWords, you can use their new AdWords Starter Edition and get one free!
Google would rather let click fraudsters off the hook than divulge how they handle click fraud.
Darren Rowse has 8 signs you’re blogging too much and Robert Scoble chimes in with 8