Blogrunner is the nifty online news aggregator the New York Times keeps forgetting it bought. Now the newspaper's deputy tech editor has embarrassed the site in an online chat.

When asked how he keeps up "with the latest tech news when there are so many blogs," Times editor David Gallagher immediately cited TechMeme, a direct competitor of Blogrunner, as "one of my favorite sites." Although the Times serves Blogrunner results from the front of Gallagher's own section, the editor didn't plug the site in his three-paragraph answer. It wasn't the first time the Times forgot about its 2005 acquisition; reporter Saul Hansell says he considered pushing the newspaper to develop something similar before discovering "we actually owned a company that did that" (see video).

It's great that Gallagher knows about TechMeme, a very useful aggregator. But, if he's going to help turn around the Times, he needs to help make Blogrunner more competitive. That means borrowing a key idea from the world of software startups: Eating your own dogfood; i.e. using your own product. And talking about it, when you have the chance.

(We sent Gallagher a couple of emails seeking comment but have yet to hear back; we'll update this post if we do.)