Blurts

Interesting documentary, Inside the Mind of Google, airing now on CNBC. The program will be repeated if you TIVO.

I find this difficult to believe, but the OnlineFamily.Norton site is reporting that “porn” is the 4th most common search term by the 7 and under crowd. How do they collect these data? Does any other service have data on search topics by age? These results are now frequently cited by educational bloggers.

It is pretty easy to be self-serving when explaining how the values of someone else should be adjusted. The complaints of those who object to various forms of copy protection often strike me this way. I am sometimes annoyed by copy protection when inconvenienced by moving a resource I own from one device or format to another device of format. Of course, the concern really is that I would move the resource from my own devices to the devices of others. Annoying or not, I am with the group that contends if you create it and your offer it to others under clear guidelines this should be the end of the story. There are typically enough options available that your survival does not depend on access to a specific resource.

Pogue’s post on ebook copy protection attracted my attention because as a content producer he has earned the right to react to the protect vs. unprotected distinction. I find his changing perspective enlightening, but I still believe the choice must be the producers and what Pogue or others moving to more open resources have come to believe is really only a message to other producers.

This brief piece from the NY Times on the publishing industry and ebook readers. The piece claims companies are dragging their feet on releasing conent for ebook readers. Explore the comments for some interesting and contrasting points of view.

Check this LastFM summary of the most frequently played tunes during 2009. Individual choices combined on a massive scale – wisdom (or at least preferences) of the crowd. What a great example of data aggregation.

I have to admit my musical tastes have resulted in few plays for any of the priority groups. I must be contributing to the long tail in this case.

Check out Howard Rheingold’s introductory comments at the Future of the Forum. Children unprepared to deal with the challenge of the web.