] NEW YORK - Google, the operator of the Web's leading
] search engine, has bought Pyra Labs, the creator of
] software for publishing Weblogs, a form of hyperlinked
] online journal that has become an increasingly popular
] way to distribute and collect information on the Web.
] Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the move was
] hailed by users of Weblogs, commonly called blogs, as a
] watershed moment for the fledgling communications medium,
] sometimes dismissed as too narrowband and self-involved
] to have a significant cultural impact.
] 'People will start taking it seriously,' said Mr Matthew
] Haughey, creator of Metafilter, a widely-read Weblog, and
] a former employee of Pyra. 'If it's linked to off Google,
] you're not going to have to explain what a Weblog is to
] people anymore.'