While browsing through some of my daily readings, I came across two articles that, when put together, make for some interesting times ahead. Social media, and specifically digital video content, is obviously a growing phenomenon, and while I’ve made statements that the real test will be to move this to a mobile platform, baby steps are important. An article on TechCrunch by Michael Arrington himself talks about the YouTube-CBS deal that seems to be having great results for both companies. CBS is trying to be a pioneer among traditional media companies and embrace the online TV trend, while YouTube needs to find legitimacy as a content provider (since most of the content isn’t really that legitimate). While large media/content companies look to increase their presence, the dark forces on the web are looking at ways to exploit this trend. Here’s an article on a recent shift to use video files to transport and distribute malware. Specifically mentioned in the article is the same video sharing site, YouTube.

An interesting article on Gigaom talks about social media and the concern with the growing number of fake or questionableÂ? stories on sites likeÂ? Digg. A story on Digg about Sony recalling their brand new console, Sony Playstation 3, fooled Diggers in the hundredsÂ? into clicking the story to prominence, despite the fact the story wasn’t actually true. Steve Rubel talks about the incident here.

The article includes a respectable source in the title, Reuters, and I really don’t find it that suprising that readers would fail to actually look beyond the single post to confirm the story. Digg is supposed to be a trusted site, one that provides a valuable service to those looking to filter the content that appeals to them. I understand that this is something that cannot be ignored, mostly because these types of stories can be tracked back and turn out to be a form of spamming. Om points to what he calls a must-read article by Niall Kennedy (Note: At this point I have not had a chance to read the article).

To cut Digg some slack, I was on my way to work this morning and had left early to avoid more of the rush and have more time for things like writing a post this morning. As usual, I tuned in to the trusty all-traffic station in Vancouver that features an eye-in-the-sky traffic helicopter. Going against my better judgement, I believed the report that traffic was only just starting to slow down right before the Port Mann bridge, and rather than taking the back roads I hopped on the freeway at 200th St. To my suprise, traffic was backed up to 192nd St, more than 40 blocks farther back than what the radio had reported, and suddenly my drive was longer than usual. I guess you can’t trust ANY sources.

Not to suggest that either the general population is behind-the-times or that the tech community is ahead-of-the-game, but the release of this article today, which was featured on the Canadian version of MSN’s homepageÂ? in one of the most prominent locations, is just baffling! Now don’t get me wong, I think it’s a great improvement on the original Hotmail webmail, and there are some interesting features as far as drag-and-drop and synchronization are concerned. However, this article, at least in my opinion, is not only too late, but it fails to take into account the fact that Gmail and Yahoo! Mail Beta are both easily as good, if not better, than this new version.

I know that it was on MSN’s site, and I know that Hotmail is probably the dominant free e-mail of choice in Canada, but the article isn’t really objective at all.Â? I can appreciate the fact that journalism doesn’t necessarily have to be objective, and the article is still informative, but it also illustrates the ever-growingÂ? gap between the common user and the tech community. Many of the people I talked to after the YouTube deal had little or no experience with the website, at least that they knew of. When I showed someone Google’s Ajax-based maps, they had no idea they could drag the map around, and I won’t even start on when people find out about Google Earth. With allÂ? the worry around the Web 2.0 bubble, new companies need to make sure they aren’t developing something that makes the techies oooh and ahhh, but the rest of the world won’tÂ? understand or need.

After being invited to Yahoo! Open HackdayÂ? (I should probably provide a link to the official site as well), we were contacted by another local individual that was dabbling in the online arena. The gentleman’s name was Sherman Hu, an Abbotsford resident that had developed the site and content surrounding WordPressTutorials.com. To be honest, the first impression of the site was it looked dated. It was tough to get past what Sherman himself described as a direct marketing salesletter.

At the beginning of this week, Sherman released his extreme makeover of the site, WordPressTutorials.com version 2.0. The new look is described as Mac-ish, and intended to attract a mainstream business audience, the internet marketing audience and the media. The site has now become more education focussed, and the look and feel of the site are great! For me personally, it makes it easier to browse the resources he has available. Blogging is still a very new feature on the web, especially as a tool to help generate sales and sales leads. I would definitely recommend to anyone that they at least check out the site, not only for the extreme makeover, but also for valuable information on blogging, videocasting, and podcasting - the three topics Sherman focuses on demystifying and simplifying.

1. Sony Playstation 3 is released - I cracked up when I saw that clip. For a real clip, click here (I don’t know why, but I never get any sound from YouTube?!).

2. HP Passes IBM As IT LeaderÂ? - Fourth quarter sales grew from $416 million last year to $1.7 billion this year. Mr. Hurd is probably going to see a nice bonus in his stocking this year.

3. Yahoo!’s Social Media Acquisitions - Three interesting acquisitions by Internet giant Yahoo!. First, Bix, and online contest site, then MyBlogLog, a blog community and analytics tool, and Kenet Works, a Swedish mobile company. I think we’ve talked a bit about social media and mobile companies, and the importance of the Big 3 making moves in this direction, haven’t we? Although the Kenet Works deal has been a few months in the making, it is exactly the kind of service that I think is long overdue.

4. Executive Shake-ups - Anyone watching Netscape’s fallÂ? over the last year, especially after the Digg-clone attempt, knew that things could be bad for Jason Calacanis. With the replacement of Ross Levinsohn following on the heels of Jason’s resignation, Two of the biggest players in facilitating the connection between entrepreneurs and big companies are leaving their jobs (from the article by Marshall Kirkpatrick that I linked to).

5. Search Engines UniteÂ? - Okay, so they are actually uniting on a unified sitemap system, but the Big 3 don’t seem to get together on too many efforts. This can only help the net-world, or at least simplify things for those of us who are in-tune with such things. However, the downfall is that any sitemap that currently exists is probably outdated now, isn’t it? Check out Sitemaps.org for more information as it comes.