I've got a new feature on the blog this evening. It's over there at the top of the right-hand column. It's some paid advertisements from the good folks at Google. This is their AdSense program in which Google's bots crawl my blog, determine what kind of content is here, and then serve up relevant advertisements based on what the robots found on my blog. If there are enough clickthroughs from visitors to this site, then Google earns some money from those advertisers. If Google earns a buck, they've promised to send me a chunk of what they earn. I have no idea what this might pay and I have no idea how this ought to be used. Will the ads be tasteful? (Google says they will.) Will they be for products and services I abhor? One think I do want to put on the record here: My relationship with Google's AdSense program is much the same as my relationship with the Globe and Mail's advertising department, that is: They sell the ads and my job is to provide interesting content. And just as the ad sales staff at the Globe or CTV never tell me what I ought to write about, so too do the Google AdSense folks have nothing to do with all the content on this site -- except for the 250 pixels by 250 pixels box on the right. The content in that box is 100 per cent Google-generated and I have nothing to do with it (although they do let me choose the colour scheme). One other important thing -- just as the presence of an ad in the Globe does not imply any endorsement by Globe and Mail journalists of the product or service in that ad, you should also assume I do not endorse any product or service advertised by Google at this site. Let me know what you think. I won't know whose ads are being served up at my site all the time but if you see one you like or don't like, let me know