Brian Gongol
Le Tweet?
France's government is prohibiting radio and television from using the words "Facebook" and "Twitter" on the air unless part of a specific news story. In theory, the decree makes sense -- why give commercial promotion to one site or another just because they're in the popular current? On the other hand, it's a great way to ensure that French radio and television will live in a sort of online exile. Those sites are where the people are today. The people will choose on their own -- regardless of what French television or radio have to say about it -- to go to other sites in the not-too-distant future. But that probably shouldn't stop them from being used in the meantime, while they're still popular. That popularity will fade no matter how much the words "Facebook" and "Twitter" are used on the air. The signs are already there: The number of Facebook users in the US, Canada, Norway, and the UK is already in decline. The site has peaked, and so should the excitement.
German girl forgets to make birthday party invitations "private" on Facebook...
...and gets 1500 uninvited guests instead
Microsoft's June Patch Tuesday was a huge one
Almost twenty major updates, mostly dealing with security. So, if your computer has been running slowly this week, now you know why: It's been downloading and processing a ton of updates.
The gold bugs are back, and they need a reality check
The notion of a gold standard for the US currency sounds fine in principle -- after all, a stable currency is a sensible thing to have, since it aids private firms and households with long-term planning. But a very small amount of inflation is a good thing to have, and you can't get that in a sustained way with an asset-backed currency. Moreover, gold is a really silly thing to use for a hard-currency standard: Why not oil? Corn? Platinum? People only think of gold because it's what has been used for a long time. That doesn't make it a good standard, particularly since it's still being extracted from the earth at an uneven rate. The best way to ensure a stable currency is with the control of a politically-independent central bank with lots and lots of self-discipline.
Halfway between Pepsi and Diet Pepsi
They're going to test-market "Pepsi Next" in Iowa soon, with about half of the calories of regular Pepsi
