A week late, but today New York Times business section report on the Pyra acquisition by Google. First reported by Dan Gillmor and reported hereLive From the Blogosphere. There's already been much opined about this acquisition so I won't bore you with more, but I did think the following was worthy of noting.
Google's attempt to automate news gathering on its news page (news.google.com) is still under development but has already earned some ridicule from journalists [...] for example, Google News was more than an hour behind human-powered sites CNN.com and Yahoo News with word of the disintegration of the space shuttle Columbia.
So how will the chattering of Blogger's 200,000 active users help Google improve its news judgment? The deal may be less about chatter than about links, said Meg Hourihan, who founded Pyra with Mr. Williams in 1999 and left in 2001 after a dispute over its direction, keeping a stake in the company. Ms. Hourihan said she was not familiar with Google's plans, but she said that it made sense for Google to be interested in gaining faster access to the links in Weblogs.
You rock, sweetheart. Congratulations. At a time when the lines between soulful expressive music and noise, harmonic dissonance, voice and electronics blur the lines of what is music and what is something else, I find it so encouraging the at 23 years old you are writing and playing music that is far from the mainstream. Even better, that it is recognized and rewarded. Congratulations.
I discovered you by accident about 14 months ago. I'd like to think I had a hand in promoting you. I must have recommended you to dozens, bought copies of your debut for others and included your songs on nearly every playlist or compilation CD I made. Still nobody had heard of you. Then you got popular. Not the jealous type, I was excited. Instead of some angry punk wining about his past and his mother, you played and sang songs from your heart. I think it was satellite radio where I first found you finally getting some airplay. And I used your songs in a home video/DVD project I made. I felt you were real. Motivated by your art, not your pocketbook.
Your voice makes me melt. Your piano makes me sway and smile. And your arrangements, simple, seductive and sassy. I love you Norah. I love you for awakening interest in music that barely rises above the noise. I love you for being young and true to your self and what you love. And damnit. You are beautiful. As a whole person. And nothing less. Congratulations. You're a winner.
[ norah jones won a bunch of grammy awards tonight including best new artist and album of the year, Come Away with Me
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