““The Simpsons Movie” sold a strong $71.9 million in tickets at United States theaters over the weekend and another $100 million overseas, according to 20th Century Fox.” (Despite 19 years on TV, a change of medium is as good as a holiday!)

The Times Online lists their “50 best Robot movies” … I disagree with some of their choices, but it’s an interesting list nevertheless

How to take well-lit macro photographs of bugs and other itty-bitty things!

Monsignor Geoff Baron who was recorded swearing and abusing teenagers (after some provocation, but not enough, imho, to justify the outburst) has been suspended after the clip was posted on YouTube and viewed widely.

After asking for video resumes for a PA job, Sean “Diddy” Combs has had over 650 video reponses uploaded on the back of his request! [a href=”http://www.textually.org/tv/archives/2007/07/016855.htm”>Via]

Chris Anderson versus Wagner James Au on the future of Second Life and the digital spinefex which seems to be tumbling through this virtual world.

Is this an Alternative Reality Game well in advance of the 2008 Batman film or a Smart Mob cleverly using the image of the new Joker instead of Zombies or pillow fights?

“57% of [US] online adults have used the internet to watch or download video, and 19% do so on a typical day. Three-quarters of broadband users (74%) who enjoy high-speed connections at both home and work watch or download video online.”

The BBC’s iPlayer (downloadable TV) is in beta, but ONLY for XP users, only in the UK and with other restrictions which has led some people to question whether it’s consistent with the BBC’s mission.

“Google hopes technology will be in place in September to stop the posting of copyright-infringing videos on its YouTube site, a company lawyer told a judge presiding over copyright lawsuits yesterday.”

“CommentPress is an open source theme for the WordPress blogging engine that allows readers to comment paragraph by paragraph in the margins of a text. Annotate, gloss, workshop, debate…”

“Telstra, Australia’s largest telecommunications company, has banned its approximately 49,000 employees from using Facebook.”

boyd responds to criticisms and extends/clarifies her argument about a class distinction between US teen social software users. [Related Comments Here]

“The operators of the Second Life virtual world have issued an edict that effectively puts an end to most forms of gambling in the online 3-D playground.” (That’s got to kill some of SL’s profitability!?)

“With the help of simple tools introduced by Internet companies recently, millions of people are trying their hand at cartography, drawing on digital maps and annotating them with text, images, sound and videos.”

William Gibson talks about his upcoming Spook Country. Not that in depth, but, y’know … it’s Gibson! 🙂 [Part 2] [Part 3]

Burst recommends Internet media as the most effective tool for reaching college students. “The 18-24 years segment has fully integrated the Internet into their daily lives. … “

Report on the use and potential uses of Creative Commons licenses in Australia. Lots of useful examples, too!

“Second Life is a conspiracy amongst media researchers to create work for themselves.” (LOL!) (Thanks Barry!)

“Australian iPod prices are among the cheapest in the world, but few of the gains from the stampeding Australian dollar are being passed on to consumers, the latest CommSec iPod index shows.”

“The internet has become the new battleground for Australian Defence Force recruitment, which in the last week alone has launched a multiplayer gaming portal and a reality-style podcast series following the life of trainees.”

Bruce Sterling blogs from the future (2017 to be exact) in “Harvey Feldspar’s Geoblog”. A good read!