Mercury News: Microsoft plans search site for Weblogs
PCWorld: Microsoft Readies News, Blog Services
eWeek: MSN Details Plans for Blog, News Search

MSN may take the lead in portal blog innovation by being the first to release a blog search engine, but the MSN Blogbot is not due out till the second half of the year, giving the competition plenty of time to launch engines of their own. Once again, MSN pre-announced its product launch.

But don't go slapping up stream-of-consciousness Blogs. MSN states that only quality, reputable blogs will be indexed. It also has slated a NewsBot and AnswerBot.