Great report finding that “44% of U.S. Internet users have contributed their thoughts and their files to the online world” from Pew Internet and the American Life Project. If you are trying to get people to contribute to your site, read this.

A good article interviewing worm and virus writers in Europe. And what a nice bunch of teenagers they seem to be.

“For the top worm writers, the goal is to make something that’s brand new. A truly innovative worm, Philet0ast3r said, ‘is like art’. To allow his malware to travel swiftly online, the virus writer must keep its code short and efficient. ‘One condition of art,’ he noted, ‘is doing good things with less.'”

Those of us who have battled infections, despite the best efforts our anti-virus programs, may disagree.

I read a lot of books, but only a few I finish, put down, and feel I’ve just experienced a revelation. The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell is one of them. If you are in marketing, business, in fact anything, do yourself a favour and go and buy a copy now.

The Tipping Point is all about how little things can make a big difference. Here’s the author explaining:

“It’s a book about change. In particular, it’s a book that presents a new way of understanding why change so often happens as quickly and as unexpectedly as it does. For example, why did crime drop so dramatically in New York City in the mid-1990’s? How does a novel written by an unknown author end up as national bestseller? Why do teens smoke in greater and greater numbers, when every single person in the country knows that cigarettes kill? Why is word-of-mouth so powerful? What makes TV shows like Sesame Street so good at teaching kids how to read? I think the answer to all those questions is the same. It’s that ideas and behavior and messages and products sometimes behave just like outbreaks of infectious disease. They are social epidemics. The Tipping Point is an examination of the social epidemics that surround us.”
If you are a penniless arts organisation, with no marketing budget, you’re going to find a great deal to get excited about.

The ACCC has launched a new publication giving good advice to protect you from the naughty people on the internet, under the slogan ‘if it sounds too good to be true…’. To learn more, check the quite good web site at http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/.

Singapore has announced that it is considering anti-spam legislation – although, with 90% of spam received by Singaporeans originating from outside their country (similar to Australia’s situation) it’s hard to see just what legislating will do. Given the Singapore government’s penchent for floggings and other corporal punishment, if the legislation gets up, I’m not sure I’d be willing to take the chance. Being fined for sending spam is one thing. Being publicly flogged is another.

Online education and learning delivery has been much hyped at various times of the past few years. But some research in the US is suggesting it might not be the holy grail. For example, in one state:

“In Pennsylvania, students who attended the state’s six cyber schools scored below the state average in a majority of proficiency tests, according to 2003 test results. The PA System of School Assessment exam, or PSSA exam, given to fifth-, eighth- and 11th-grade students show cyber schools were below the state average in 17 out of 24 comparisons, and in half the cases the schools did not meet the state’s goals of 35 percent of students showing proficiency in math, and 45 percent in reading. “

Telstra has introduced an SMS->Voice service – you can send an SMS text message from your mobile to a fixed line home phone When the message arrives, your phone rings, and a computer voice reads the message to you. Which begs the question – why not just ring the person up to start with? I guess I can see the usefulness – a company could use it to communicate roster information etc to people without mobiles. Although I didn’t think there was a cat or dog left in Australia who doesn’t have one.

Well finally some big time action.

“Four of the largest internet service providers (ISPs) in the US have begun legal action to crack down on spam.

AOL, EarthLink, Microsoft and Yahoo are suing around 220 individuals across four states alleging that they have broken the Can-Spam Act, which came into force on 1 January.”

BT, a major broadband ISP in the UK, has 2 million broadband customers, and is gunning for 5 million. And they’re saying content is going to be a key to achieving the goal. WHich makes sense, the whole point of broadband is being able to experience content – in all its multimedia forms – faster and better. BT’s initiative is interesting:

“The group plans to take on the pay-TV industry with a new service enabling everyone from broadcasters to local interest groups to supply broadband users with shows and films of DVD-like quality. It has developed a complete digital rights management suite that will allow video to be distributed for a fee, and will announce a number of content partners early next month. “

Well, he’s at least reading your email, or will be if the Government gets some legislation changes through.