The AP reports a few additional details about Microsoft's impending release of its free blogging tool today. It will be supported by banner ads, and those with MSN Messenger or Hotmail accounts will get the service for free. The Pew Internet and American Life Project reports that one in 50 Americans has created a blog and about one in nine have actually read one.

[Update: PaidContent has an excellent summary of the service and coverage of it here.]