Google has filed a patent application for ranking blogs using measures of quality, and Bill Slawski at SEO by the Sea has an excellent summary of the key factors. The quality factors fall into both positive and negative categories:

The top Google searches from the past week carry a sobering dichotomy of elation and sorrow as information seekers sought to join in the celebration of March Madness as well as take part in mourning the suicides of actor/comedian Richard Jeni and former Boston frontman Brad Delp.

Skyhook Wireless is powering a location-based plugin for users of AOL’s AIM service. The Wi-Fi based AIM Location plugin lets users set and share their location with other users who have the plugin.

The CeBIT technology fair in Hanover, Germany, started last week and runs until March 21.

CeBIT is the world’s largest trade fair showcasing digital IT and telecommunications solutions for home and work.

One of the neatest things about speaking at conferences on topics you’re passionate about is connecting with like-minded people. And one of the best things is meeting those who are yet to be wholly convinced but are willing to engage in discussion. That means you have to work quite hard to present some persuasive arguments for your point of view.

When news of a major pet food recall got out, pet owners hit the search engines over the weekend worried about their furry best friends.

One dog, nine cats. That’s the death toll so far in a mysterious outbreak of kidney failure linked to Menu Foods, Inc.’s various pet foods distributed by well-known grocers like Kroger, Safeway, Wal-Mart, and PetSmart.

Steve Riley explains about how the auto-performance-tuning feature in Windows Vista’s networking stack can cause problems connecting to some wireless networks.

Google has a habit of showing up where you least expect it; from a hub in Ireland to server farms in North Carolina, the company isn’t afraid to venture out of its Mountain View home.  Now Google has made two new deals, and both the Rwandan Ministry of Infrastructure and the Kenya Education Network should benefit from its willingness to travel.

A piece from the New York Times has reignited the debate over online advertising and the monetization of the “long tail” of the Web, one that got a boost recently with a post from Jeremy Liew, a venture capitalist at Lightspeed Venture Partners, who noted that in order to build a business with $50-million in revenue — pretty small beer in most circles — a site would have to have about gazillion page views a month (I’m rounding up).