It looks like Blogger in beta is no longer beta! That is really good news to hear, as the old blogger was–barely surviving.

Here is a snippet from Blogger Buzz:

The new version of Blogger is metaphorically bursting with features, from the big guns like drag-and-drop template editing and post labels [...]

to little polishes like a better-designed Dashboard or that you no longer need to solve a word verification CAPTCHA to post a comment on your own blog.

Good to see Google finally improving on “old hardware.” Now, if they could only bring that finesse to Picasa (i.e. more features, public search, 25 Gigs of space, etc.).

…it’s good to know who your friends are.

I think I might need to order this bracelet. For the future.

It looks like the Google Earth team has recently added a new Geographic Web layer which basically allows you to see comments about locations from Wikipedia, the Google Earth forum and Panoramio.

Google is becoming like the Borg (except a friendlier version of them). Assimilating all information and making it usable for the masses.

But with this latest addition to Google Earth, should it be classified as a social network like MySpace and Orkut?

Love the new look Google! Now I can not only catch up with what my friends are saying, but also with what is happening around the world as well.

So I finally decided to “throw in the hat” and sign up to become a Lift Port Ambassador.

I actually considered doing this before, but declined because I felt that I lacked the “know how” to be able to discuss what a space elevator is all about, let alone write about one.

Many moons passed and I finally wrote an article regarding the space elevator, which you can also see over at Blog Critics.

After viewing the initial feedback from the comment section (as well as an email from Frank and Michael) I decided to simply sign up and see whether or not I am accepted into the program.

I have already talked to some people about the idea (with positive and negative responses) and was encouraged by what I heard. Although counter arguments against building a space elevator will probably appear, I have the confidence to face them and perhaps kick off a movement to explore the stars–at least in my area.