Washington legislators may have finally lost their minds. Two bills winding their way through Congress — the House’s “Stop Online Piracy Act” (aka, SOPA) and the Senate’s “Protect IP Act of 2011″ (aka, Protect IP) — could gut the very foundation of the Internet.

But don’t just take my word for it. The same conclusion is represented by three distinguished law professors from Stanford, Elon, and Temple universities in their jointly published essay, “Don’t Break the Internet.”

Here are a couple of snippets from the authors’ essay:

“The procedures outlined in both bills fail [a] fundamental constitutional test. Websites can be ‘completely removed from circulation’ — rendered unreachable by, and invisible to, Internet users in the United States and abroad — immediately upon application by the government, without any reasonable opportunity for the owner or operator of the website in question to be heard or to present evidence on his or her own behalf. This falls far short of what the Constitution requires before speech can be eliminated from public circulation.”

“As serious as these infirmities are, SOPA, the House’s bill, builds upon them, enlarges them, and makes them worse. Under SOPA, IP rights holders can proceed vigilante-style against allegedly offending sites, without any court hearing or any judicial intervention or oversight whatsoever.”

In the noise of all of the other political gyrations in Washington, legislation that could undermine the foundation of the Internet could squeak through. I urge you to review the entire legal analysis at this link.  If you’re equally concerned, you may want to consider contacting your Congressional representatives.

Image courtesy Stanford Law Review.

How would you like to raise up to $2 million for your startup business?  And do it by letting investors “point-n-click” the cash your way via the Web?  It may soon be nearly that simple, thanks to the “Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act” (more commonly known as the “Crowdfunding Act”) that passed the House in an overwhelming (and bi-partisan!) 407 to 17 vote.  President Obama is another driving force behind the legislation, which is designed to dramatically streamline fund-raising for entrepreneurs.

After the bill passes the Senate (and all indications are that it will), and President Obama signs the legislation into law, entrepreneurs will be able to turn on a grassroots method to raise capital — equity sales online — with greatly reduced SEC restrictions.  The freer flow of money would be rocket fuel for startups, which are an essential engine for a robust economy and job creation.

“Crowdfunding” — a way for masses of people (“the crowd”) to feed ventures with capital via the Web — has blossomed in recent years thanks to sites like Kickstarter.com.  But SEC “red tape” (primarily the Securities Act of 1933) has prohibited these sites from directly offering investment shares in the enterprises.  The new Crowdfunding Act will remove this barrier.  No longer will equity sales be restricted to accredited investors.  And the power of public-supported funding will be unleashed.

Entrepreneurial endeavors will be able to sell up to $2 million in ownership shares to an unlimited number of investors.  And individuals will be able to invest up to $10,000 or up to 10% of his or her annual income, whichever is less.

If a company seeks the maximum $2 million in funding, it must supply “the crowd” with audited financial statements.  A company can choose to bypass the audited-financial-statement requirement — but then the maximum capital it can raise is $1 million.  (That’s nothing to sneeze at!)

When the President signs the legislation into law, it will be a great day for all entrepreneurs.  Just as important for America, the ensuing new businesses will provide a shot of adrenaline for the economy and help rev up the job-creation engine.  Everyone will win.

Has your cell phone’s autocorrect feature ever made a really screwy suggestion for the word you intended to type?  Worse, have you accidentally sent the text with the nutty word, only to then have an OMG moment — wishing you could take it back?

The editors of “Damn You Auto Correct” have compiled what they believe are the 50 funniest messed-up text messages, as determined by Facebook shares, tweets, comments, and pageviews.  Check out the LOL selection of text messages here:   http://bit.ly/vxU90b

“Carrier IQ is a piece of software installed on millions of mobile phones that logs everything their users do, from what websites they browse to what their text messages say.

“No, it’s not part of some great Orwellian plot; it’s a diagnostic tool that carriers say plays a crucial role in helping them assess and troubleshoot their networks. But the recording app, which flew under the radar for years until security researchers drew attention to it recently, is setting off red-alert privacy and security alarms.

“It’s also spotlighting how little customers — and, sometimes, the carriers and manufacturers themselves — know about what goes on under the hood of their data-stuffed mobile devices.”

For the full article, including a link to an insightful YouTube video, visit http://cnnmon.ie/ruPxSh

Image courtesy John F. Coughlin / CNNMoney

I’m not big on politics.  But I am on technology.  And I’ve spotted an emerging technology platform that has a legitimate potential to profoundly impact the U.S. presidential election less than a year from now.

It’s called Americans Elect www.AmericansElect.com.  Its goal:  Allow the public to select its own President / Vice President candidate ticket — and put the pair on the election ballot in all 50 states.

What distinguishes this endeavor from a symbolic gesture is that Americans Elect is collecting signatures nationwide to place the selected candidates on the ballot in all 50 states.  So, in theory, the Americans Elect ticket could become President and Vice President of the United States.

As stated by Americans Elect:  “We’re using the Internet to break the gridlock in Washington, open up the political process and give every single voter — Democrat, Republican or independent — the power to nominate a presidential ticket in 2012. Your voice matters. You decide the issues. You choose the candidates. And in a secure, online convention next June, you will make history by putting the Americans Elect ticket on the ballot in every state.”

Could this actually happen?  Given the volatile political climate, and now the technology infrastructure, it’s not impossible.  Check out the Web site www.AmericansElect.com and keep an eye on things.  And if Americans Elect blossoms into a real political force, remember where you heard it first.

Chime.in, a just-launched social-media site, claims it will pay all content posters 50% of the advertising revenue generated on their profile pages.  This in stark contrast to Facebook, which has built a $65 billion empire by leveraging members’ content to attract advertisers and amass revenue.

To provide a first-hand report, I created Chime.in account (very simple to do), and explored the site.  Although the site is still in beta, I must say the user interface is well thought out.  Since the site has just turned on, you probably have a good shot to get your personal name as your user name.  Hey, it’s free.  Go for it.  www.Chime.in

The following is a snippet of a Huffington Post article about Chime.In:

“While Facebook has earned billions of dollars selling ads next to the content uploaded by their 800 million members, users haven’t seen a dime from their posts.

Share with Chime.in and Chime.in will share with you. The site, which allows individuals to post photos, links, videos and text in two thousand character ‘chimes,’ will give users 50 percent of the revenue it earns from selling advertising on their profile pages.

‘This is a firing shot in social media,’ [Bill Gross, the founder] told The Huffington Post. ‘Finally, the interests of the content creators are aligned with the interests of the publisher because they get something for their hard work.”

For the complete article, visit http://huff.to/ogyFGi

Image courtesy The Huffington Post and Getty Images.

I came across this inspiring two-minute video on YouTube about entrepreneurs.  They formed the fabric of our country — and could (and should) be our engine to the future.  Start your day off with this video.  It will lift your spirits.  Then take that rush of adrenaline and dose free spirit — and go for it.  Change the world.

Facebook has really messed up its News Feed.  Overwhelmingly, people want the Facebook News Feed to function the way it was.  Here’s a simple 1-2-3 to do just that:

(1)  In the left-hand column, click on LISTS.

(2)  Click on the “Create a List” button and type “Most Recent” as the name.

(3)  Select all of the friends you’d like to follow by clicking on their pictures.

That’s it!  Now when you want to see a “normal” most-recent list of the activities of your friends, just click on the “Most Recent” link in the left-hand column.

Bonus option #1:  If you’d like the “Most Recent” link to conveniently appear in your “Favorites” at top of the left-hand column, simply mouse-over the “Most Recent” list name, click on the pencil icon that pops up, and then click on “Add to Favorites.”

Bonus option #2:  If you’d really like to tweak the position of the “Most Recent” link, say to put it at the very top of your “Favorites,” that’s easy too.  All you have to do (once it is in your “Favorites”) is mouse over the “Most Recent” link again, click on the pencil icon again, and select the “Rearrange” option.  Now click and drag the “Most Recent” link to the position you’d like.

Facebook creative director, Ji Lee, spilled the beans about Facebook’s upcoming Facebook Music service when he tweeted:  “The ‘Listen with your friend’ feature in ticker is blowing my mind. Listen to what your friends are listening. LIVE.”

The “ticker” Lee referred to is the live scrolling updates of your friends, as implemented in the recent interface update of Facebook.

The graphic associated with this post is a snippet of a screenshot by quick-fingered Twitter users — before Lee and Facebook removed Lee’s tweet from public view.

What the Facebook Music feature will look like, and how it will actually function, is still a secret.  Keep an eye on both the ticker and the general Facebook user interface over the next couple of days.

Facebook users have long wished they could organize their friends into groups — as some posts that may be appropriate for one segment of your social network (like your close friends) might be shocking for others (like your grandmother).  Starting this week, you can now do just that with Facebook’s new “smart lists” feature.

Facebook’s system makes an initial guess at parceling your contacts into separate groups, based on proximity, family relationship, business name, or school association.  You can override and edit Facebook’s guesses, to get your groups just the way you want them.

Facebook has been working on this feature for some time.  But Google’s recent roll out of Google+ and its “circles” concept seems to have spurred Facebook to speed things to completion.

Image courtesy of USA TODAY

Call me crazy, but I think it’s ridiculous that Microsoft charges $499.99 for its Office Professional 2010; that’s more than what I paid for the laptop that I’m using to write this post.

If you’re content with all of the features of your current version of Microsoft Office, but would like to open and edit those new .DOCX (for Word), .PPTX (for PowerPoint), and .XLSX (for Excel), just download the 100% free “compatibility pack” from Microsoft.  Here’s the link:  http://bit.ly/rb0Ifl.  The installation will take you less than a minute.

And if you’re totally fed up with Microsoft, just download and use Oracle’s 100% free OpenOffice suite.  As described at OpenOffice.org:  “OpenOffice.org 3 is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose.”

As mentioned above, OpenOffice lets you read and edit Microsoft Office files (like Word, PowerPoint, and Excel).  So you can remain fully compatible with Microsoft files you’ve previously created, or files you share with clients and colleagues.

To give OpenOffice a whirl, just visit www.OpenOffice.org.

Perhaps a little competition will nudge Microsoft towards more reasonable pricing for its products.  I’m all for it.

I’ve experimented with a number of ways to transfer a Facebook friend list to Google+ and found the following method still works.  Use this technique before Facebook plugs it up:

1.  Log into (or sign up for) a Yahoo! account.

2.  Click into your address book.

3.  Select “Import Contacts”

4.  Click on the Facebook option.

5.  When the popup box appears, click OK to share contacts.  (Depending on your browser, you may need to enable popups to see this box.)  Like magic, the data representing your Friends list will begin downloading.

6.  Open a new tab in your browser and log into your Google+ account.  Click on the Circles tab.  Click on “add and invite” and select the Yahoo! icon.  Presto!  Your Facebook friends will now be imported.

CNET just published a nice tribute to the birth of the Web, an event that happened 20 years ago — August 6, 1991.  Check out CNET’s tribute at http://cnet.co/r2IyJD

The accompanying  illustration is from Tim Berners-Lee’s original proposal for a Web-based computer network using hyperlinks and a computer network.  (Content credit: CNET and W3C)

As you’re strolling memory lane, other notable items from 1991 include the start of the first Gulf War, the end of Apartheid in South Africa, Lech Walensa elected President of Poland, and Freddie Mercury, the wonderfully talented lead singer of Queen, passing away from AIDS.

According to InformationWeek: “Google has purchased more than 1,000 patents from IBM in an effort to build up its intellectual property portfolio, possibly with an eye to fending off the increasing number of IP lawsuits the search giant faces from competitors such as Microsoft.  The 1,030 patents cover a wide range of technologies, including ‘the fabrication and architecture of memory and microprocessing chips.’”

It will be interesting to see what Google really has up its sleeves.

For additional information from the InformationWeek report, visit http://bit.ly/ppz9ca

Want a polite way to avoid certain people who want become your social-media friend?  Gagetwise posted an interesting solution that I thought I’d pass along:

“Create a Google+ circle of people you don’t want to snub, but don’t want to share your life with, either. You can call it anything you want –  Frenemies, for example — since Google+ doesn’t expose the names of your circles to others. When an annoying semifriend adds you on Google+, quickly add them to your Frenemies circle. They’ll get a notice that you’ve added them to a circle. Hurray! They’ll even show up on your profile page as one of the people in your circles.”

For the complete article, check out http://nyti.ms/pnIcLP

ZDNet just released a great review on the five top tablet PCs. If you’ve been considering a tablet for yourself, or looking for one for son or daughter as a back-to-school tool, then this is the review for you.

Product insights, photos, and accessories — including nifty keyboards that turn a tablet into a full-fledged computer workstation — are all provided in this tablet review. Check it out at http://zd.net/o8ZsIt

(1)  Visit http://www.facebook.com/videocalling and click on the Get Started button.  (2) Click on a person to call from your chat list.  (3) Follow the pop-up window prompt to set up video calling.  (4) Video-call the person you selected.  It’s that easy.  Enjoy video-calling your Facebook friends!

The editors at PCWorld were fortunate to be included in Google’s “field trial” — and they put Google+ through its paces.  Check out their very comprehensive review of Google+ at http://bit.ly/lfznOe

Look out, Facebook.  The 500-pound gorilla just entered the room.  Read the just-published “Is Google+ social media done right?” review by Joe Wilcox and Betanews.  Includes videos of key  Google+ features.  Also read about the central Google+ functions:

+Circles — online places users create to socialize and interact with different groups of people,  not everyone.

+Hangouts — multi-person video calling.

+Mobile — group messaging, location services, and photo and video uploads and sharing.

+Sparks — social sharing service.

Check out the full review here:   http://bit.ly/kuEUfs.

If I was a bigwig at Facebook, I’d be worried.  At first glance, Google+ looks very impressive.

Image courtesy of The Globe and Mail.

Google is set to roll out its own social media service, designed to compete with Facebook.  Initial reports are that it will look and function similar to Facebook, with real-time updates (including posted photos) from your circle of friends.  Google hopes to avoid a repeat of the social media debacle that occurred last year when they launched Google Buzz.

The date for the public launch of Google+ has not been announced.  The service is already being used by Google’s own staff.  So it is reasonable to assume that a phased public roll out could occur as early as the next few weeks.

Beginning on January 12, 2012, the door will open to essentially unlimited variations of domain names.  The current suite of 22 gTLDs (generic top-level domains, such as .com, .org, .net, .edu) will blossom to almost anything you can imagine.

According to the ICANN press release:

“ICANN has opened the Internet’s naming system to unleash the global human imagination. Today’s decision respects the rights of groups to create new Top Level Domains in any language or script. We hope this allows the domain name system to better serve all of mankind,” said Rod Beckstrom, President and Chief Executive Officer of ICANN.

New gTLDs will change the way people find information on the Internet and how businesses plan and structure their online presence. Virtually every organization with an online presence could be affected in some way.

Internet address names will be able to end with almost any word in any language, offering organizations around the world the opportunity to market their brand, products, community or cause in new and innovative ways.

“Today’s decision will usher in a new Internet age,” said Peter Dengate Thrush, Chairman of ICANN’s Board of Directors. “We have provided a platform for the next generation of creativity and inspiration.”

For the full press release, please visit http://www.icann.org/en/news/releases/release-20jun11-en.pdf

Image courtesy of CBS News and iStockPhoto.

InfomationWeek published a wonderful visual tour of IBM’s unique place in the technology and computer revolution.  As the author of the article wrote:

“IBM took on massive projects ranging from implementing the Social Security Act of 1935, to developing Cold-War-era aircraft tracking systems and atomic research labs, to building guidance systems for the early space program. IBM has plenty of inventions to its credit along the way, from electric tabulators and typewriters, to dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and hard disk drives, to the barcodes and magnetic-stripe cards now ubiquitous in retail transactions.”

Take a stroll down “memory” lane.  The museum-quality pictures (and  the accompanying story) are extraordinary.   Visit http://bit.ly/jQjxdU.

Google’s popular “voice search” tool for mobile devices is now being rolled out to the desktop.  That’s one of the announcements Google execs made today at an event in San Francisco.  If you’re running the Chrome browser, you’ll now see a little microphone icon which, when clicked, will allow you to speak the item you are searching for.  (Chrome is an excellent & fast browser, BTW.)

Google also unveiled a “search by image” feature inspired by its mobile Google Goggles app.  Insert an image and Google will try to provide a search result that it feels is associated with that image.

For more information on this breaking news, check out the following article at SearchEngineLand.com:  http://selnd.com/mg13Jp

(eMarketer) A digital revolution in couponing coupled with the belt-tightening of the recession have combined to make coupons cool among more than just those clipping the Sunday circular. Digital coupon usage is now firmly a part of the online shopping experience of millions of U.S. consumers.

eMarketer estimates that by the end of 2011, nearly half of U.S. adult Internet users, or 88.2 million people, will have redeemed an online coupon or code for use either online or offline in the past year. By 2013, 96.8 million adults will redeem an online coupon.

For the full report, visit http://bit.ly/lZfDE1

Global telecom company, Ericsson, recently predicted that by the year 2020 there will be about 50 billion mobile Internet connections, worldwide.

And the world’s population is predicted to be approximately 7.7 billion in 2020.

So it doesn’t take a rocket scientist (inside joke) to predict that each person on the planet will, on average, be connected to the Internet by well over six mobile devices.

We’re not just talking about pockets full of smartphones.

The quantum jump, according to Ericsson and many others, will be the explosive growth of machine-to-machine (M2M) communications.  That is, portable electronic devices, automobiles, traffic-control systems, dozens of home appliances, and more, all connected through the Internet…and large-scale wireless connectivity.  Many of the devices will be interacting with each other, at thousands of times a second, without you even knowing it.

Think of it a massive data-communications environment, invisible to the naked eye, and as ubiquitous as the air we breathe.  And continually interacting with our daily life.

Welcome to the autonomous, interconnected world.  It’s just around the corner.

Computer illustration of Internet connectivity by the The Opte Project

Bored with public domain eBook Kindle titles?  Click on the following link for over 20,000 free current Kindle books:  http://tinyurl.com/FreeKindleBooksAmazon

These are contemporary books that the authors and / or publishers have (kindly) decided to offer as free Kindle eBooks.

Happy e-reading!

(PCWorld) A Chinese global trade site is selling an item under the listing “Newest design crystal case for apple iPhone 5g,” which hints that the next generation iPhone… If the design of the case, made by Kulcase, LTD in Guangdong and offered for bulk orders on alibaba.com, is actually based on leaked plans from Apple, it appears the next iPhone could have a new edge-to-edge display and a new location for the rear flash. For the full article, visit http://bit.ly/jRsz6i

(Mashable) As of the end of 2010, more people get their news from the Internet than from newspapers – and more ad dollars went to online outlets than to newspapers, too.

In surveys conducted by the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism, 34% of respondents said they read news online within the past 24 hours (as opposed to 31% who favored newspapers); and a full 41% said they get most of their news online, 10% more than those who said they got most of their news from a newspaper.  

Also, online news media was the only medium that saw growth year-over-year; from radio to television to newspapers and magazines, every other medium saw a decline in audience.

In general, it can be said that text-based news audiences are dwindling. Only 40% of people in the study said they read the news in an online or print newspaper, a 12% drop from five years ago.

For the complete article and data, visit http://on.mash.to/icLvBP

If you’re in marketing, advertising, publishing, or media services — this is critical knowledge if you want to stay ahead of the curve.  Two years from now, don’t say I didn’t give you a heads up….

The world is on the verge of a startling transformation in publishing.  E-readers, like Kindle, only present existing content in a digital form.  That’s blah.  Child’s play.  The true revolution in publishing is about to unfold before our eyes…and, in fact, all of our senses.

The future of publishing is an immersive, multi-media platform that allows users to interact with the content.  Not just display it.  But actually create an experience that’s unique to each and every reader (or, more appropriate, each participant).

Software platforms to develop such immersive content are becoming available.  I encourage you to view the following four-minute video:  http://www.ted.com/talks/mike_matas.html.  It will blow you away.

From a marketing standpoint, the possibilities and opportunities are boundless….

For instance, imagine creating interactive “product placements” that are unique to not only the content of the material — but also tailored to the reader’s / participant’s unique purchasing habits.  The information cloud — and now the publishing technology — will start making this very possible.  And very soon.

A super-easy way to find the lowest price of gas in town is with the handy Web site www.GasBuddy.com.  Just type in your ZIP code and — presto — the lowest prices at the nearest gas stations will pop up on your screen.  There’s also a handy app for your iPhone, Android, or Windows mobile phone.  Click & save — now!

(MacWorld / The Guardian) The devices’ data could be retrieved by a suspicious spouse, private investigator, or some other third party.  The iPhone (and the 3G-enabled iPad) keeps a running log of its location and copies that information to your home computer whenever you connect to it.  As such, the information — complete with latitude, longitude, and timestamps — can be easily reconstructed to show a person’s movements.  [Worst of all] there is a degree of negligence in not only failing to informing users that their location is being tracked and logged, but also in not securely storing that information.  For the full story, visit http://bit.ly/g3Y1KT

(Associated Press) Terror alerts from the government will soon have just two levels of warnings — elevated and imminent — and those will be relayed to the public only under certain circumstances. Color codes are out; Facebook and Twitter will sometimes be in, according to a Homeland Security draft obtained by The Associated Press.  The new system, replacing the five color-coded levels, is expected to be in place by April 27.  A 19-page document, marked “for official use only” and dated April 1, describes the step-by-step process that would occur behind the scenes when the government believes terrorists might be threatening Americans. It describes the sequence of notifying members of Congress, then counterterrorism officials in states and cities, then governors and mayors and, ultimately, the public.  For the full report, visit http://yhoo.it/gelihP

(LA Times) “The new Commodore 64 computer, first released in 1982, appears the same on the outside, but is much different beneath the surface.  It’s still taupe and it’s still basically a big keyboard with a full working computer sitting beneath it — mouse and monitor aren’t included.  But while it has its retro looks intact, it’s also quite new, with modern features even some of today’s computers (Apple, we’re looking at you) haven’t caught up to, such as HDMI outputs to connect to a HDTV and the option of a combination Blu-Ray and DVD player.  ‘It looks just like the original Commodore 64, with even the old-style keyboard,’ said Barry Altman, chief executive of Commodore USA, LLC, the company making the new all-in-one PCs. ‘In fact, that keyboard was the biggest accomplishment of all, so far. The keys look like a piece of clay that you pushed a marble into — so it fits your fingertip.’”  For the full report, visit http://lat.ms/e763cC

(Washington Post) “The two most widely used Web browsers are getting updates, and for once both contenders — Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 9, released Monday, and Mozilla Firefox 4, due Tuesday…are competing…[for] less time spent waiting for the browser to work its way through a complex, interactive page, and less distraction from the interface surrounding that page.   Privacy is part of the pitch for IE 9 and Firefox 4.  Both try to help users stop Web sites from monitoring what they do elsewhere on the Web….  Microsoft has compacted the top of IE’s window, fusing its address and search boxes into one field (as in Chrome) and then moving the tab icons that represent open pages into the space to its right.  That leaves almost the entirety of IE’s window to display the page, but it also makes it difficult to see what pages are in other open tabs.”   For the complete report, visit http://wapo.st/gsPbDA

The Wall Street Journal:   “The new offering — which was made by Warner Brothers without explicit assistance from Facebook — puts Facebook Inc. in greater competition with Netflix Inc. and other tech companies vying for position in the ever-expanding online-video-services market.  It also comes as movie studios are increasingly testing new methods of distribution for their movies.”  For the complete report, visit http://on.wsj.com/iiUVLG

In its first year of business, the company Warby Parker sold 20,000 pairs of glasses online.  Check out this interesting business model at this link.