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Blogger launches sneak peek of new service

Want to beta test some of Blogger's new and upcoming features before they hit the mainstream? Check out Blogger in Draft.

Josh Lowensohn Former Senior Writer
Josh Lowensohn joined CNET in 2006 and now covers Apple. Before that, Josh wrote about everything from new Web start-ups, to remote-controlled robots that watch your house. Prior to joining CNET, Josh covered breaking video game news, as well as reviewing game software. His current console favorite is the Xbox 360.
Josh Lowensohn

Yesterday Blogger launched a new service called Blogger in Draft. It's essentially the same old Blogger interface with a few new features the team is in the midst of developing. Think of it like an open beta test. The first new feature is a built-in video uploader tool. Users can add AVI, MPEG, Quicktime, Windows Media, and Real video files with sizes up to 100MB. The service will then convert it into a playable Web video with an interface identical to Google's own video player, complete with Blogger branding.

What's interesting about this new feature is that Google is not-so-secretly uploading Blogger videos to Google video, where they can be searched and sorted. Blogger is just skipping a step in the user process and doing the upload without having to venture off-site.

Google intends to add more features to Blogger in Draft in the coming months. Below is a screenshot of the new uploading interface.

Update: Reader HiddenNook pointed out that Google isn't making the videos searchable through Google video, despite the fact the player branding contains the Google Video moniker and nonworking links to the source video. Digging deeper into the source code of a posted Blogger video, you'll find these videos are hosted via Google video, albeit in private. It's an interesting choice in restrictions.

Blogger in Draft's new video-uploader tool lets you upload videos, not just embed them on the page. CNET Networks