I’m pretty sure everybody realizes this now, but I’d like to reiterate: The Official Google Blog isn’t a blog. It’s a press release and public relations machine that happens to use a blog platform.
The Google Blog has been changing over the years, as Donna Bogatin notes. But the change isn’t mysterious–the company has simply grown up into a bigger, more professional version of its inherently secretive self. The blog is used less for insight into Google and more to seed the blogosphere–which is only too happy to link to it–with pro-Google news. And has anyone noticed each Google blog has a similar “voice.” It’s almost like–no, couldn’t be–the posts were approved by marketing personnel.
Anyway, this isn’t nefarious. It’s just good PR policy.