A great explanation of the SOPA and PIPA controversy come from CNNMoney, a Time Warner subsidiary and SOPA supporter:

The bill’s supporters dismiss accusations of censorship, saying that the legislation is meant to revamp a broken system that doesn’t adequately prevent criminal behavior. 

But SOPA’s critics say the bill’s backers don’t understand the Internet’s architecture, and therefore don’t appreciate the implications of the legislation they’re considering.

The bills are about protecting content, mostly from oversees sites. From the CNNMoney article:

Both sides say they agree that protecting content is a worthy goal. But opponents say that the way SOPA is written effectively promotes censorship and is rife with the potential for unintended consequences.

“Imagine a world without free knowledge,” Wikipedia asks us. According to social news giant Reddit, “These bills provide overly broad mechanisms for enforcement of copyright which would restrict innovation and threaten the existence of websites with user-submitted content, such as reddit.” From photo sharing site Imgur: “The internet is on strike.” Hundred of  additional sites are participating in the protests with blackouts including giants, Mozilla, Boing Boing, WordPress and Major League Gaming.

Reaction is obviously strong. Supporters see it as money being stolen from their pockets. Opposers are considering the effect these bills may have on our future. Are we creating a world where information is governed? The priority here seems to benefit a few giant companies at the expense free internet for the rest of us.

We invite you to read more on these bills and others by following these links.

SOPA: Stop Online Piracy Act

Reddit’s SOPA FAQs

PIPA: Protect IP (intellectual property) Act

OPEN: Online Protection & ENforcement of Digital Trade Act

I am sure we have one more invite left, so give us your best reason why we should let you come to the big dance.

This product is combination Foursquare & Facebook Places into. It will allow you to see where your friends are right now. I know some of you are concerned about the privacy and being seen where you are but Google Latitude has that covered as well with their share, set, or hide your location at any time. I look forward to using yet another Google product and I hope you have fun with as I am.

I was recently out at lunch with a favorite client, (Hi Frank!) and we were having a friendly discussion about information overload. You know:

• 500+ email in your inbox. (or worse the mailbox is over it’s size limit)
• 1000’s of unread posts in your RSS reader
• The voicemail light is always blinking
• You are watching television – laptop on lap, iphone in hand – in case the connection is too slow.
• Can’t decide what to cook for dinner even with a boat load recipe books, Epicurious.com and Mark Bittman’s iphone app.

So I thought I’d take the time to address some of the problems we face in this super accessible world and  offer some ideas on how to get through the summer, a little smarter, and a little dumber…

your inbox is over its size limit

Condition: Work-Dizzy: Your head is spinning. There is so much stuff on your desk. Your inbox is full. The phone is ringing. You don’t know which task to accomplish first/next. Part of you wants to smash your computer. Part of you wants to go back to bed.

Solution #1: Clean your desk off. Reduce the pile of stuff. Throw away what you don’t need. File what has already been accomplished. Make a priorities list.

Solution #2 Take a lunch. (I know you don’t) Walk away from the desk. (I don’t care what time it is) Ignore the email. Leave the mobile behind.

Condition: Unread Anguish: RSS Reader has thousands of unread items in it! Email is full; Inbox has a million f*%$^ng things in it.

Solution #3: Get an RSS reader account. Google Reader is great. Now scan you emails for e-newsletters, blog subscriptions and Google alerts. Set them up in the reader; Unsubscribe to the email. Wait one month. Refer to Solution #5.

Solution #4: Accidentally click the “Mark all as read” button.

Solution #5: Put some time aside to manage Your RSS Subscriptions: Get into the reader’s settings and organize!

• Delete. I know you have things in here that you never read. I also know you have probably never done some basic spring cleaning.
• Categorize your subscriptions. Start simple. A folder for delicious food blogs. A folder for industry hot topics. A folder for local news. A folder for your Google Alerts. A folder for the competition.
• Now do it again. Get a little deeper.

Condition: Mobile Addiction: Your eyes hurt from squinting and your pointer fingers are sore. Also, your family/kids/husband/wife is/are looking at you rather crossly. When asked, you have no idea what time it is.

Solution #5: Ask yourself, why am I doing this? Unless you are a doctor you can probably afford to put down the crackberry/iphone/smart whatever and leave a few unattended emails rather than a few unattended loved ones.

Condition: Brain To Mouse Finger Malfunction : OMG! I almost sent the newest Lady Gaga video to a client.

Solution #6: Stop. Take a deep breath. You are in multi-tasking hell. You need to focus. Refer to solution #1 stat.

Condition: Hungry : You have so many options, you can’t decide what to cook for dinner.

Solution #7: Pizza.

Send us your chronic problems / solutions -  we’d love to hear them!

Now go play whilst I prepare a better blog post.

Who in a right state of mind sits behind a computer and says to him self “I believe I will give you my credit card info, no problem, what’s the worst it can happen.”  Well the worst has happened and its out there for everyone to see.

This is what Blippy had to say:

“Blippy is very concerned about safeguarding the confidentiality of your personally identifiable information. We employ administrative, physical and electronic measures designed to protect your information from unauthorized access. We will make any legally-required disclosures of any breach of the security, confidentiality, or integrity of your unencrypted electronically stored personal data to you via email or conspicuous posting on the Services in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay, consistent with (i) the legitimate needs of law enforcement or (ii) any measures necessary to determine the scope of the breach and restore the reasonable integrity of the data system.”

Sharing your credit card and online purchases with friends on the web was not a good idea and I don’t think it will ever be no matter how secure they say it is, just because there is always that one person that is waiting to crack the code.

If you are interested in reading more click on the link below.
http://mashable.com/2010/04/23/blippy-credit-card-numbers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29

In response to the City of Topeka’s announcement that it is changing its name to Google for the month of April, Google has in return decided to change it’s name to Topeka. Not quite sure this is true? Just Topeka it.

2. Where Am I? Pluto.

Smartphone users that log on to Google Maps and type “Where am I?” into the search bar might be surprised to find that they are further away from their intended location than they thought. Google Maps users will find that instead of receiving the usual latitude and longitude coordinates, they are receiving answers like “Neptune,” “Apollo 17 landing site,” and “Mordor, Middle Earth.”

3. Your World Now in 3D

When using the Street View on Google Maps, users are given the option to view their location in 3D. Unfortunately for me, I forgot my 3D glasses at home today and haven’t been able to test this out for myself, but having spoken to a reliable source, I know that this works.  Just zoom to street level, click on the orange icon wearing the red/ blue glasses and watch as your world becomes 3D.

I will play and update you all soon!

As in-store sales continue to plunge and online downloading (free- i.e. LimeWire or with cost- i.e. iTunes) continues to soar, major record companies pitched the music search idea to Google a year ago. A joint venture between Vivendi SA’s Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group Corporation, EMI Group PLC, and MySpace Music has emerged and the music moguls want to promote an alternative to Apple’s iTunes. Call it keeping up with the changing times, or a last ditch effort. Either way, consumers are moving online to preview, play, and purchase their music.

For those of you looking to check out the new Music Search site when it launches, here’s what you can expect—package images of musicians and bands, album artwork, links to news, lyrics, videos, and song previews, as well as a search results page that allows you to buy songs. This is expected to be a success for all parties in the development. The music companies benefit from sharing revenue of purchased songs, and Google will collect revenue from the advertising shown within search results.

Let’s see if it’s as win-win as they claim. I, personally, can’t wait to see how it turns out!