More Cha Ching For Blog Pioneers

Associated Press: VeriSign Inc., a supplier of Internet security products, said Friday it has acquired Weblogs.com, an Internet site that automatically notifies subscribers each time a blog or Web site is updated.

Mountain View, Calif.-based VeriSign said it paid $2.3 million in cash to purchase Berkeley-based Weblogs.com, which was started by Web log pioneer Dave Winer.

VeriSign said it will continue to operate Weblogs.com, which supports thousands of daily feeds from bloggers and other publishers, as a free service. But a VeriSign spokesman said the company could charge for additional services in the future.

Weblogs.com started as a host for scores of bloggers before Winer changed directions and transformed it into a "ping" service that provides automatic notification to subscribers.

Weblogs.com uses really simple syndication, or RSS, a format designed for sharing headlines and other Web content.

Winer said in a phone interview that Weblogs.com had grown too big for him to handle. The site is sending nearly 2 million pings a day.

Note: Weblogs.com and Weblogs, Inc. are two different business, both of which sold for millions this week.