“The [Australian] Nine Network has lost its bid to retain control over how and when people consume its television shows in a landmark court judgment today”. (The EPGs are here to stay in Australia! 🙂

The Age and other mainstream media are taking the Liberals and John Howard to task for their poor use of social software during the election campaign (possibly because The Age went through something similar a year earlier!)

The Classic Series. 160 Stories. One Legend. Every Doctor Who episode made last century, cut into one engaging 5 minute clip by Stuart Humphyryes. [Via]

“Second Life’s financial sector is being rocked by a series of upsets that could spell trouble for the virtual economy.”

Slate broke the story that Republican candidate Rudy Giuliani’s daughter appears to support Democrat Barak Obama. The reporting and story itself raises privacy issues about Facebook! Her profile is gone now.

Interesting analysis of Twitter as a social microblogging form. From their conclusions, it looks like Twitter is more centred on physical geography than (macro?) blogging. [Via]

“The magazine editor who parodied Apple chief Steve Jobs in a blog says he started the site on a whim only to see the viral nature of the blogosphere turn it into an internet sensation.”

John Tulloch, a media professor who was also one of the survivors of the 7/7 London Bombings, talks about (mis-)representation, the media, terrorism, and personal experience in an engaging and fascinating lecture!

A generator to create your own custom “finger pressing novelty keyboard key” image. Anyone for an Any key? 🙂

A very useful beginners guide to what BitTorrent is, how peer to peer filesharing works, and the like …

A 19 y.o. in Arlington, Virginia took a 20 second clip of teh Transformers film in the ‘Regal Cinemas Ballston Common 12’ and was promptly arrested, possibly facing up a year in jail!

Advertisers on Facebook are removing ads since they can’t control where they appear. First Direct, Vodafone, Virgin Media, the AA, Halifax and the Prudential have withdrawn advertising after it appeared on the British National Party page.

How to create a blogroll of the blogs you’re subscribed to in Google Reader. Not exactly a one-click solution, but a very useful function I used to wish for!

“latest figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) show that mental illness, including anxiety and depression, is currently the greatest burden of disease for people aged 15 to 24.”

Profile of artist Amber Hawk Swanson who had a realistic lifelike doll created, modeled on her physique, and calls the doll Amber. Their performance art challenges perceptions, to say the least. I wonder when this tech will lead to the ‘printing’ of Second Life avatars?

Australian “Defence Department has confirmed that a video posted on the Internet shows soldiers binge drinking at Darwin’s Robertson Barracks.” The YouTube vid showed soliders in Klu Klux Klan outfits…

What it is: “Mobile Movie is bringing back the forgotten joy of the great American drive-in. Powered by cars and low-cost film projectors, “mobmovs” are easy and affordable to set up” (Cool!) [Via]

“Australian commercial broadcaster Channel Ten has dropped Torchwood from the Monday 9.30pm timeslot, moving the programme to Tuesday nights at midnight (Wednesday 12am).” (We might start to call this Battlestar syndrome. *sigh*)

“Teachers have called for websites such as YouTube to be shut down as part of efforts to prevent pupils and staff being bullied.” (And then we can ban all of those books since lots of them encourage vioilence … *sigh*).

Listen to the original version of 1938 The War of the Worlds radio show in which Orson Welles took H.G. Wells’ tale of Martian invasion and scared a lot of people! [Direct Mp3 Link]

“The reason for the public interest is that the hero of the game is a “honest and upright official” whose assignment is to weed out corrupt officials, along with their children and mistresses.” (Chinese game players vs official corruption!!)