Digg StumblesUpon a New Way to Engage Community (Marketing Pilgrim)

• This is an interesting turn of events from a "the tables are turned" perspective.  Most of the news you hear is exactly the opposite of this one - some other site is trying to play Digg's game.  But this go around, it's Digg that's taking a page from another site's book.  And I think StumbleUpon's book is better.  Digg has become a political and - dare I say - corrupt "democracy". Unless I haven't thought of something, StumbleUpon's approach is much less gameable than Digg's.  But who knows.  Maybe I'll get proven around about that and folks will start ruining SU, too.

  Top 25 Web 2.0 Search Engines (OEDb)

• This is an interesting list to look at because, even though they're small and some are unheard of now, one of these could be "the next big thing"… or at least the daddy of the next big thing. And some of these are actually pretty useful.  Topix, for example, is a site I use on an almost daily basis.

  Google's Agent Rank Patent Application (Search Engine Land)

• So Google's been filing more patents, huh?  This one has to do with identifying specific content creators based on "digital signatures" that Google's algorithm could identify by analyzing content for specific trends or patterns.  Hmmm.  That certainly won't get gamed.

  Yahoo Taps Its Inner Startup (BusinessWeek.com)

• The article is a good look at Brickhouse, a new division at Yahoo dedicated solely to exploring and experimenting with new things.  Not a bad idea.  But hardly original.  As the article points out, Google has had it's Google Labs for a long time.  Brickhouse is basically the same thing.  That being said, it could potentially be a big win for Yahoo innovation if - and only if - it is truly left alone to operate outside the Yahoo spectrum.  Without daddy Yahoo sticking their fingers in the pot, Brickhouse could turn out more cool stuff like Pipes (which was the division's first product).