Zemanta

While trying to link Google Blogger and Google Buzz together so that posts to one automatically post to the other, I came across Zemanta!  Zemanta seems to be quite a handy little "assistant" that provides content related to the text of your Blogger post.  This post is serving not only as an informative one, but also a Zemanta test.  As I'm typing this, Zemanta is off to the right suggesting pictures, related articles, and in-text links!

So far, I'm pretty pleased.  Some of the pictures, however, seem rather unrelated, such as a few faces of well-known bloggers about whom I'm not directly writing and one abstract oil painting (okay, other than the fact that the picture exists on a blog, that's not related at all!).  The related articles seem on-point. I'll list a few:

• Bloggers Get More Content with Zemanta (asktheblogster.blogspot.com)
• Zemanta Gets Blog Love From Blogger (centernetworks.com)
• CMOR Weekender #2 - A rising industry, how 2 speel good, and a great source of links. (codemyownroad.com)
• Google's Blogger and Zemanta Team Up on Gadget for Blogger (webpronews.com)
• Blogger Welcomes Zemanta Assistant (webconsuls.com)
• Zemanta Now Native on Blogger.com! (techparade.blogspot.com)

Also, all the in-text links in this post were automatically inserted (disclaimer: I had to click "apply all").  Several settings are changeable, including image alignment (left or right), HTML code style (default HTML or clean xHTML), and which signature image (read: Zemanta icon) is placed at the end of the post (including an invisible image for those who don't desire it's presence).  Apparently, more advanced options are made available by registering with a Zemanta account (appears to be free since the FAQ doesn't list a "how much does it cost?" question).

Overall, I think I'll keep it around as it seems like it could be a useful little tool, although I'll probably choose to use the invisible Zemanta icon!