C|Net reports that Google’s search share has grown to 56.3%  I’m not surprised it grew, but I’m surprised it’s only 56.3%.  I can’t think of a reason to use any other search engine.  Google search simply works.  Yahoo has 21.5%.  Next is Microsoft at a measly 8.4%.

Here are 20 video tutorials for the budding magician.

Looks like BarCamp is coming to Houston.  Here’s the wiki, where you can sign up.

I had 52 unread Engadget posts in my reader tonight, and 63 unread Gizmodo posts.  It there anyone who wants to read that many?  Anyone?  I am really close to unsubscribing.  Currently, I just get overwhelmed and ignore all of them.

I have another Bebo report, even better than the last one.  Today “BunnyHeroLabs was added to the Bebo Widgets lineup.”  I don’t know what that means, but I’m sure it’s important.  And hilarious.

Stowe Boyd still doesn’t want to address the preemptive use of the troll label, but he wants you to follow him on Twitter so he can make the Top 100.  I told you it was about personal brand building.  Recall that I generally sided with him in the original argument, but I’m curious about what he thinks about this preemptive labeling business and I’m just going to keep asking until he answers.

TDavid’s family has been TV-free for over a year.  He asks his family if they miss it.

Didn’t I say basically the same thing a few weeks ago?  Now people want to have job interviews in Second Life?  Second Life is about 80% game and 20% social network.  Generally speaking, jobs are about 0% games and 10% social network.  I’m not saying there’s not money to be made via Second Life- I’m simply saying that some people are going waaaaay overboard when it comes to actual business uses for Second Life.

Speaking of Second Life, C.C. Chapman has a review of the new voice features.

Jing Chen on encouraging more girls to pursue tech.

Scott Adams on how he makes a comic strip.  Very interesting.

I saw a bumper sticker today that blew my mind.  It was plastered across the back window of a minivan.  It said “Show Dogs, Don’t Tailgate.”  Are you kidding me!?  If I was barreling out of control and I saw that, it would be like a giant, irresistible bull’s eye.

A city without advertising.

Not in my case it won’t.  My computer is a bloatware-free zone.  The PC Doctor has more advice for avoiding software you don’t want. 

@Jeff Pulver:  In the real world, absolutely.  Particularly if the Blackberry user is someone charging by the hour for attending the meeting.  I have clients who have policies against their employees using Blackberries during meetings.  My policy is that if I am a material part of the discussion, I will not look at my Blackberry.  No one is so indispensable they can’t wait a hour to reply to an email.  Uninterrupted Blackberry use is more about addiction than efficiency.

I know (hope) this is tongue in cheek but the sentence “Zingfu just hooked up with Bebo to offer Zingfu within Bebo Widgets” is a more damning indictment of Web 2.0 than anything I could ever write.  I’m thinking about making it the slogan for this blog.  Really.

Paul Stamatiou has a detailed review of the Slim Devices Squeezebox.  Mama’s got a squeeze box she wears on her chest and when daddy comes home he never gets no rest, and all that.

Newly subscribed: Be a Good Mom (Mike Miller’s better half), Charles Teague (via Claus).

You know those emails you get offering you a fortune to help move a little money out of some foreign country?  Here’s version 2.0.

Robert Nagle: “on the few occasions when I took a TV glance at it, I found that Paris Hilton reality show (The Simple Life) to be cute and fun. Some of it was a put on, but it was mostly silly entertainment – certainly much better than the Bill Oreilly show for instance.”  If I was forced to watch one or the other, I’d probably side with Robert.

Got some time to kill?  PC Gaming Blog has a list of the 100 best free, full version games you can download.

Louis Gray has seen Michael Moore’s Sicko and has a report.  Shelley has some reservations about its availability on the internet.  I suspect there are some people who will see it on the web who would’ve otherwise seen it in a theater and I suspect there are some who will see it on the web who wouldn’t have seen it at all otherwise.  All in all, a wash or close to it.

Chris Brogan on activated communities.  A colleague of mine once said that anytime someone asked him to be on a committee, he knew it was because they wanted him to work for someone else’s cause, for free.  I’m not quite that cynical, but you always have to ask yourself “activated to what purpose?”  Chris is correct that you have to give the community something in return for its action.  The answer to what that return is tells you if it’s really community building or just disguised marketing.  Usually, but not always, it’s disguised marketing.

One week after my CHS 1978 social networking experiment, that post is number one on Google for “Cheraw High 1978.”  I did my part.  Google did its part.  Now we wait….

Maybe this is why Kodak is getting out of the low end digital camera market.

My favorite universal remote is the MX-800.  Engadget, in one of 6,000 posts today, has a preview of the new MX-810.

Om asks the same question I did when I read the wave of posts about Safari for Windows.  I have that same question with respect to 90% of the Web 2.0 applications I read about.  And about this.

Dave Wallace wants to sell you some ocean front property.  I couldn’t even give land away last year.  I hope the market is better for Dave.

@Paul Colligan: Amen.  These are the same people who say that Word is dead, even though it creates 99% of the contracts that keep the wheels of commerce turning.

Zen Habits is simply a must read, for anyone.  Here’s another example why.

Susan Getgood on LinkedIn and Facebook.  It seems to me that LinkedIn could own the grownup population if it would make a few tweaks and open its API.  Susan is right- it’s way too hard to find people in Facebook.  I find most of these social networks to be either chaotic or boring.  I want mine just right.  Like porridge.

Richard Querin has discovered a very useful Firefox extension.

Seth finally got paroled from Wikipedia.  He successfully overcame the Finkelstein Paradox.  Shel Israel is happy to take his place.

If you’ve been wondering about the status of Web 2.0 in Romania, read on.

Valleywag says Scoble wants a new gig.  Scoble says he has committed to stay at PodTech “until 2008,” or stated another way, for another 6 months and 16 days.  I’m still a little bitter about getting booted from Scoble’s reading list, but blogging is blogging and life is life, and if stories like this adversely affect Scoble’s job, that’s not cool.