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.

Newly subscribed: Matt Moran.  Newly unsubscribed: Ben Metcalfe, Ben Werdmuller and Craig Newmark (all have been dropped from my swivel feeds for non-participation).

@Scott Karp:  No, text messaging is not a viable media and advertising platform for older people (like me).  No one I know over 35 has even the slightest interest in text messaging.  The only way to change that is to wait 20 years.

I’ve told anyone who will listen that the Drive-By Truckers are the best active American rock band.  Take Outfit off their 2003 record Decoration Day.

Mighty fine rock and roll.  I love the lines “So don’t try to change who you are boy, and don’t try to be who you ain’t.  And don’t let me catch you in Kendale with a bucket of wealthy-man’s paint.”  Go buy that record now.

Jeneane Sessum isn’t all that fired up about the new Technorati design.

Join the best series in the blogosphere: Quasi Fictional’s “What is a blog to you series.”

Dwight has a great post about things to love and hate in Vista.  User Account Control just about ruined Vista for me.  Until I killed it.  Now I’m mildly Vista positive.

Now Comcast is making absurd HD channel claims.  At the rate we’re going, someone is going to promise a million HD channels by Labor Day.

A 3 year old makes and keeps a 10 year vow of silence?  Reminds me of that kid in Little Miss Sunshine.

Zen Habits has 27 skills your kids need that aren’t taught in school.

Newly subscribed: EchoDitto Labs.  Newly unsubscribed: None, but there are several on the verge.

Mashable has a useful list of 120+ RSS resources.  Fadtastic has a list of 25 ways to improve your web site (Amen to number 3).  The best way, of course, is to add Newsome.Org to your blogroll.

27 confessions of a former Circuit City employee.  It’s all about extended warranties and accessories.

Here’s one of my favorite things in the blogosphere.  People create some new phrase (say, for example, the 4 Hour Workweek) and start to create a religion around it.  Then Stowe Boyd comes along, calls bullshit on it and provides a common sense, logical answer.  I love this quote: “Most people operate on the assumption that the response to increased flow is to intensify what was working formerly: read more email, read more blogs, write more IMs, and so on. And at the same time motor on with the established notions of what a job is, how to accomplish work and meet deadlines, and so on.”  People absolutely have to pick and choose.  Successful people have mastered the art of picking and choosing.  Very successful people have mastered the art of picking and choosing in a way that doesn’t make them look like assholes.

Chip Camden is related to Pocahontas.  Pocahontas is a great song by Neil Young.  That song mentions the Astrodome.  The Astrodome is in Houston.  I live in Houston.  Synchronicity.  Voltaire Camden?  I bet he was the toughest kid in town by the time he was 6.

Newly subscribed: Jimmy Huen.  Newly unsubscribed: None, but there are several on the verge.

Zen Habits has 20 Ways to Eliminate Stress from You Life.  Lifehacker chimes in on creating a more healthy inner life.  On the other hand, if you simply want to avoid screwing up your life, there’s this.  Personally, I just want to win the lottery.

WikiHow has 11 steps for being a good boss.  I spend a fair amount of time thinking about management and group-building, and I think this is a good article.

A HD DVD Player for $199?  Even if you have to wait a little, this is a good deal.

Idiots from my home state killed a summer reading program because they talked about astrology, palm reading and whatnot.  Now the kids just sit around and eat pizza.  Unbelievable.

A whole lot of people are helping Andr*w Ke*n prove that he is, in fact, a lot smarter than we are by continuing to write about him.  He calls us stupid amateurs.  People write hordes of indignant posts about it.  He gets rich and famous.  Repeat.

Butts arrested for stealing toilet paper.  Husband Seymour had no comment.

Shelley Powers on Joost: “Joost is the most uncommunicative company I have ever seen that’s dependent on the beta process and word of mouth. Company personnel never participate in the forum, update the company weblog, or respond to bug submissions.”

David Peralty doesn’t like multiple page posts.  Me either.  Partial feeds are bad enough.  I can’t think of a single blogger who would remain in my reading list if they used multiple page posts.

Ed Bott on the dangers of unintentional data in Word documents.  This is a huge issue for law firms, and many (including mine) automatically scrub documents to remove metadata, Tracked Changes and other hidden data from documents before they are emailed.  I once got a copy of a letter of intent on a huge deal from the other side, which inadvertently showed the revisions to the letter of intent with the prior prospective buyer.  I didn’t read or use that information, but I could have.

John Tropea has a write-up on using Facebook outside the walls.  Paging Mike Seyfang, who is also experimenting with this.

Scott Hanselman has 32 ways to keep your blog from sucking.  I agree with most of them, but not number 2 (keep overtly personal stuff out of your tech blog).  Granted, there is a marginal utility to the personal stuff, but if you avoid it to an extreme, your blog becomes just another boring little newspaper equivalent churning out yet another post about something that everyone else has already written to death.  The personal stuff humanizes a blog and helps you connect with your readers.  If he changed “overtly” to “excessive,” I’d agree.  I already agree with number 30 (avoid category specific feeds).  No one is interesting enough for me to read their blog a la carte.  I’m either all in or all out.

Louis Gray says the biggest blogs aren’t really blogs any more.  He’s right.  The good ones are the new old media.  The bad ones are pro sports:  all about the money and the bling.

Darren Rowse on building your personal brand through blogging.  Good, common sense advice.

@Rick: I’m not on the Vlog wagon (yet), but FYI the video doesn’t show up in feeds.  That seems to me to be a big drawback.  As far as the video blogging thing goes, I like TDavid’s Hmmmcasts (which has an enclosure in my feed, but won’t play).  A couple of minutes.  Good information.  Someone should invent an application that allows people to do remote video podcasts, with little Brady Bunch boxes for each participant.  That would be very cool.

I wish someone loved me as much as Scoble loves Zooomer.

Seth Godin has an interesting post about coaching.  I have done a fair amount of coaching and, for me, being coachable all comes down to one trait: the ability to listen as opposed to just hear.

@Tony: Why are you feeding the troll?  Starve him.  Like a cold.  Or is that a fever?  I can’t ever remember.  As usual, Amy gets it.

Newly subscribed: Chris Kasten.  Newly unsubscribed: None, but there are several on the verge.

Movie Recommendation: another scary one.  The Messengers.  Netflix link.

AARP has a list of 50 Things You Need to Know by 50.  I love number 3.  I used to not know that.  That one and this one were written about the same waitress.

Doc on Facebook vs blogging: “The logic required here is AND, not OR. Both are good, for their own reasons.”

Stargate Atlantis via Line Rider.  This is cool, and took someone a long time to create. (via Michael Parekh – Hey Michael, I added you as a Twitter friend and then had to dump you because of my Pink Floyd Policy; In the words of another great band, Why Can’t We Be Friends?)  More sci-fi goodness.

Susan Getgood on ghost writing.  I’m not a PR guy, but I can tell you this.  If I was reading a blog by a stated author and found out some hired hand was writing it, I would unsubscribe immediately.  And I would not be happy with the company for misleading me.

Now we have a virtual secretary for social networking.  Aren’t we making just a little too much out of these sites?

Claus Valca has some great Vista tips.  Includes some ways to deal with the dreaded User Account Control.

Ian Forrester on the iPhone: “the hype is getting stupid.”  Amen.  But so is the hype about everything that remotely relates to social networking.

Newly subscribed: Paul Lester (via Earl); Donna Bogatin (see below).  Newly unsubscribed: None.

Donna Bogatin has left Digital Markets and taken the solo blogging plunge.  Her new blog is InsiderChatter.com.  I’ve subscribed.

Generally, when I read about some internet giant buying a smaller company, it makes me sad.  But I hope Amazon does buy Netflix, because Amazon is probably the only company who could buy Netflix and not screw it up.  There might be a sales tax problem holding this deal back.

Tom Morris has started a podcast.

Jericho is coming back.  That’s excellent news.

Zoli Erdos has a good write-up on the latest in the Zooomr saga.

Daily Cup of Tech has a list of online generators of custom graphics.  You know, those sites that let you put names and whatnot on signs, tombstones, concert tickets, etc.

Here’s a very interesting read about a man man who has suffered from anterograde amnesia for 40 years. (via Shelley Powers)

I didn’t know they still updated Netscape Navigator.  To quote Mini-Mac quoting some TV show I never saw: “If what you say is true…I still don’t care.”  That rule was later codified as the Rule in Tommy Lee’s Case and the subsequent Care Bears Doctrine.  Stated another way, is there anyone who really cares?  If so, here’s the Navigator story via Wikipedia.

I’ve mentioned this before, and I’m fixing to do it again:  Engadget and Gizmodo should have a self-imposed limit of 6 posts a day.  I find the sheer number of posts oppressive.  And I don’t read them.  Which means I never see the ads.

Covestor is intriguing to me.  I am not going to give up my brokerage account information, but I have long thought that investing via social networking was a relatively untapped market.  I’d love an online application that lets me create a private group for investing tips, investment clubs and maybe a way to create a personal stock index based on my portfolio.  Om has a good write-up on Covestor.

I guess Newsome.Org was number 36.  Bummer.

Scott Karp has a great write-up on WordPress vs Movable Type.  As someone on the verge of breaking out of the Blogger trap, I am very interested in the differences between the major blogging platforms.  Shelley Powers thinks the train has already left the station and Movable Type wasn’t on it.

Tom Morris likes Google Gears.

Tony Hung agrees with me about Guy’s real return on Truemors.  Guy in general, and Truemors in particular, are great proof points for Seth’s theory of the blogosphere.  Having said that, let me say again for the record that blogging is about links (whether we like it or not), and Guy has done a great job of leveraging on his connections to grow his blog.  It just irritates me, that’s all.

Based on Thomas Hawk’s review, I can’t wait to get my hands on a Drobo.  I have tried every known manner of redundant backup and have found no satisfactory solution to date.