Top Items:

Google Removes Its Help Entry on Censorship, More News — Incredible. Google removed their help entry on censorship, as Gary Price discovered. Here's what it used to read: — "Google does not censor results for any search term. The order and content of our results are completely automated …
RELATED ITEMS:

Gates defends China's internet restrictions — Bill Gates, the billionaire founder of Microsoft, took the rare step of standing up for arch-rival Google today as he argued that state censorship was no reason for technology companies not to do business in China.

Google in China — Google users in China today struggle with a service that, to be blunt, isn't very good. Google.com appears to be down around 10% of the time. Even when users can reach it, the website is slow, and sometimes produces results that when clicked on, stall out the user's browser.

The New Boom … Be careful what you wish for, all of you with the "Please, God, just one more bubble!" bumper stickers. It's getting wild again in Silicon Valley. In recent months, the breathtaking ascent of Google has lit a fire under its competitors, which include practically everyone in the online world.

edge cases and early adopters — This week was the fourth version of Microsoft' "search champ" program, and the first one where I've been heavily involved in the planning (rather than simply being an attendee). It was a great meeting, with some amazing people providing input into new product development in MSN/WindowsLive.
RELATED ITEM:

Auto Ads Veer Off Newspaper Pages, Head to Web — Continued Slide in Revenue — From Classified Advertising — Adds to Publishers' Woes — Auto ads, a major source of newspaper-classified advertising, have been slipping steadily for nearly two years. But the slippage may be turning into a landslide.

Predictions and More Speculation on a Google Music Service — Elinor Mills has a brief post reporting that Bear Stearns analyst Robert Peck is predicting that Google will offer a digital music download service in the three to six months. Bear Sterns is using the name the name "Google Tunes" as their "code name" for the service.

Blogger Junkets Rekindle an Old PR Approach — In the pre-Internet era (I know call me a mastodon), press junkets we're huge. Companies would spend oodles of money to fly reporters in for a whirlwind tour of a destination and/or to meet certain high-profile individuals.

LA sues over 'Grand Theft' game — LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The city of Los Angeles has sued Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (TTWO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) for selling pornographic video games to children with its best-selling game "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," which last year was found to have hidden sex scenes.
Discussion:
Cathode Tan

The 5 Problems with Videogame Journalism — In the last year, a lot has been said about videogame journalism and the problems of the field. There is a belief that gaming reviewers play into the hands of the marketing machine instead of being actual critics who can help to improve the quality …
Discussion:
The Game Chair

Homebrew games and Emulation on PSP 2.50! — Fanjita Releases 2.0 eLoader for v2.00, v2.01 and v2.50 PSP's — PSP Updates forum moderator and hacker guru Fanjita has completed his first release of a new loader for 2.01+ PSP's called eLoader. While 2.60 is not currently supported …

How Not To Deal With Blogs: A Case Study — From time to time, I get asked by people at various companies "about blogs and stuff", in particular how companies can best deal with blogs from a PR and marketing perspective. Two things I stress are sincerity and honesty.

Rethinking corporate communications in the Me2 Revolution: This is a link to an essay called "Me2 Revolution" written by Richard Edelman. I am requiring all of my employees to read it. I am encouraging all of my clients to read it. You should read it also.

Rest in Peace, Sony Aibo — SONY PULLS PLUG ON ROBOTIC DOG — The Aibo lived seven years — or 49 if you count robotic dog years. — On Thursday, Sony pulled the plug on its Aibo robot, the peppy robotic dog with a software-controlled personality — and abilities — that has entertained thousands of faithful owners.