More and more people are now able to blog. With technical barrier lowered, more information can be delivered more quickly, whether we like this or now.

Most bloggers prefer mundane tidbits to deep thoughts, and backed by voice transcription and video sharing, the cell phone may soon be the tool of choice.

The prevalence of blogs is (just as expected) sucking some of the fun out of it. This lacks the appeal of a unique occuption. For myself, I predicted this over 2 years ago.

Are blogs dying as a whole? Not quite. Instead, blogs with a particular focus — blogs that deliver consistent content (not streams of consciousness) appear to survive. Here are the words of a man who cannot stand the disruption to his profession.

“Millions and millions of exuberant monkeys … are creating an endless digital forest of mediocrity,” Keen writes in a book published Tuesday.

His views have infuriated bloggers and others, especially in Silicon Valley, who argue he is an elitist intellectual, a conservative pining for a return to old ways, and a writer who cannot keep his facts straight.

As you look around the Web and track blogs that you used to read, often you find that the pace of blogging has declined significantly. In retrospect, blogs became very popular very fast, so they attracted many millions, which in turn led to the anti-climax. Long live the culture of personal blogs that were actually lively! Not many of them are left, unless you focus on “Internet celebrities”. Professional blogs replace drivel. I too have moved on.

HERE is an increasing number of companies which try to play the “source code” card when it fact they give nothing but binaries. This trend is worrisome. It is also disturbing because it adds ‘noise’ and makes it difficult to identify projects that are truly about collaborative development.

Here are some projects that thrives in Open Source status that is not truly deserved:

• Coverity – brags detection of defects in Open Source code, but proprietary nonetheless.
• Krugle – searches and indexes Open Source code, but if you talk the talk, you ought to walk the walk.
• Google – Thrives in the use of Open Source software, but lacks transparency (APIs are no code).
• Black Duck – verifies license compliance in open source projects, but still proprietary.

What does it all come down to? It’s nice when you speak about opening and sharing, but if your company only exploits this “Open Source” aura, then you can do more harm than good. Software opens up because it makes it better and development is sped up. Companies whose focus are other open source projects ought to realise this.

So, Microsoft has decided to tell us that it ‘innovated’ a touch screen and then copied some existing software (even from Linux, as shown in the video below). Some people will still refuse to believe that great ideas comes from open minds, not large companies that thrive in mass marketing.

It is worth adding that Linux supports touchscreens very well and they can be aligned horizonally, for work or for play.

Some people just don’t want to know the truth

HERE is no question about it. Earth is becoming warmer due to various factors, including deforestation, congestions, and endless emissions. What is rather appalling is some people’s refusal to acknowledge this, let alone take action. The reluctance to make a change and help our future has no excuse. Here’s the gist:

The US appears to have rejected draft proposals by Germany for G8 members to agree tough measures in greenhouse gas emissions, leaked documents have shown.

saw ‘Baby Spice’ returning to the limelight the other night. Maybe she ran out of her Spice Girls money or maybe she just craves fame, attention, and status. Fair enough, I thought. However, her video is a remake/rendition of Downtown. No element was new, the video revolved around her appearance and, to make matters worse, her voice/singing was very unprofessional. I only mention this as an example. It symbolises a growing trend in showbiz.

There are some reports about possible price-fixing in the GPU biz. Might this be true?

The complaints may develop into class action law suits against which Nvidia says it will “vigorously” defend itself, according to Dow Jones.

This type of practice has become commonplace in many sectors. It would be a shame if it turned out to be true. There is some wonderful stuff coming out from NVidia’s work, as the following GNU/Linux video hopefully demonstrates.