I never really took to internet chat rooms myself but every now and then I like checking some of them out just to see what people write there. Some of the stuff is pretty interesting and in many cases I find myself surprised just how personal and close the people at certain forums feel towards one another. I can only assume that the people writing on these chats and forums don’t know each other from off the internet and have become sort of friends online. I find that really beautiful. Sometimes I feel a bit bad that I’m not part of something like that.

I’ll give you an example. I was browsing around the teen chat site at idolme.com today and found some very interesting topics discussed as well as some personal discourses going on between the apparent regulars on the boards. In some cases I even felt a bit like I was invading their privacy and listening in on a private conversation but then I remembered I was on a public internet forum and got back to reality. Today a question was posted in the relationship section regarding whether it is a good idea to bring someone a gift on a first date. I found this an interesting topic for discussing over the internet since maybe it is exactly personal topics like these that are easiest discussed with strangers and people you aren’t face to face with. One answer was posted so far recommending he brings flowers.

Idolme.com covers a lot of topics and categories. There are a lot of TV and movie topics discussed on the site with a thread dedicated to almost any TV show you can think of as well as current movies. But the biggest topic by far is American Idol with separate forums covering each of the popular show’s seasons. As someone who doesn’t usually post on any of these sites, I find myself spending an awful lot of time browsing around them and reading…

A story (“Misgivings Spoil Plans of Start-Up”) published last week on the New York Times is creating a lot of controversy as critics claim Saul Hansell has used the New York Times as a stage for plain slander. The main issue is that Hansell skewed way off the article’s main focal subject and took an angle that is not only a “non issue” but is actually unfair in how it presents things.

The subject of Hansell’s attacks has posted a response on his blog to the article. Armand Rousso response to NYT story by Saul Hansell points out several inaccuracies in Hansell’s story and claims that the whole issue of Rousso’s background is irrelevant to the story.

I must say, Rousso’s retort is fairly convincing and it doesn’t put the New York Times or Saul Hansell in a very good light. I leave it for you to decide – researched journalism or just plain slander?

You may not think it is a big deal when you download a video clip or an image from the Internet, took information from an article you read and used it for your project or research, or passed on a song to a music-sharing website. Technically speaking however, these acts may very well be a violation of the law.

Intellectual property is protected by copyright law in almost all countries and the first thing it clearly requires is a permission from the creator or the owner of the work before any reproduction, distribution or other use can be made by another party. So before you use any information you see in the Internet, check if the site declares a blanket permission for use of its material. Otherwise you might be getting on the wrong side of the law.

If you have been looking closely at some of our posts from the past few days, you may have noticed that some of them have a statement on the bottom indicating the posts were sponsored. This is because we have joined PayPerPost which is a network that allows advertisers looking to generate some buzz about their product or their website to request blog posts be written about them by bloggers in the PayPerPost network.

The concept of blog ads is a great idea from an advertiser’s perspective since it generates a much more natural conduit to bring their message across and does not generate the antagonism that traditional ads often do. After all, readers don’t have to read the posts and they are not intrusive ads that obscure the content you are really interested in.

The fact is that in most cases readers actually find what is said about the advertiser interesting since they are reading an honest review by someone they trust. After all it is up to the blogger to decide what to write about and bloggers don’t have to accept any advertising opportunity they don’t want to.

This is not only a great opportunity for advertisers to get their message across but also finally presents a great way for bloggers to make money doing what they love – simply by blogging and creating interesting content for their readers.

The following is NOT a paid review:

My girlfriend bought me an incase Sling Pack for by birthday because my mobile edge backpack just wasn’t cutting it. I have to say, this is the best looking pack I’ve ever seen. Not only is it great looking though, it is also VERY comfortable. Sometimes I forget I’m even wearing a pack. It is slimmed down to the essentials and it’s perfect for me. With my last backpack, I found I rarely toted anything around besides my MacBook, and peripherals. This pack fits them all very well and still has a little more room to spare, but it’s not too roomy. It sports 3 pockets besides the main notebook sleeve and still remains slim, light, and oh so comfortable. I am very impressed with incase and will definitely be making all my future casing purchases from them.
(Also, they have one of the best looking websites I’ve ever seen. It was designed by electric pulp.)