With blog search, not a big deal because of ping servers. But I have set up Google alerts, and I get notifications sometimes within 45 minutes of me posting on my blog or comment and that something is in the main Google search index, which blows my mind.

I’m with you on browsing over RSS (hence why I only just saw your post now ). I think it’s because I appreciate the design of a site in presenting the text, like a newspaper. For me, the presentation adds meaning to the text just as much; makes the reading experience so much more enjoyable.