There’s a great story on Techcrunch UK about a 13-year old in Scotland that’s created his own social network/blogging network. First, I think I should congratulate Scott - Congratulations, Scott, that’s amazing!

Now, I have to take a couple shots at Mike Butcher’s article… While many older people may not have the know to find out who writes about startups, send them press releases, and get on CrunchBase, when I was 13, the average older person couldn’t program the time on their VCR either. Personally, I was consumed with computers - but there was no Internet, no startups, no blogs to contact. I was on many-a-BBS, I created artwork in the what was then known as ANSi (wtf?), I had helped network the computers in our house to play Warcraft on no less than 3 computers (not quite WoW, but hey, it was early 90’s!). While living in Vancouver may have limited possibilities, I had a cousin who developed games and lived in Palo Alto and even made national TV, and the barriers for achieving success were no different for him.

In the age of the Internet, there’s an obvious advantage, but let’s not compare my time with his, because that’s not what the article was about. So, how was it possible for Scott to do so well? Okay, not to knock Scotland, but I have to suggest that North America is probably a bit further ahead than Scotland on the tech front; Scott would have been 9ish when MySpace was exploding on the North American scene. Livejournal, blogger, and others came to be around that time, too. Another point to consider is that what did you do when you were 13? I’m pretty sure most of us would have had a few hours a day that we could use for our hobbies, but as you get older, it’s harder to give time to hobbies or ’side projects’.

Okay, so if you were going to do a real startup, it shouldn’t be a side project, but again, compare this to setting the time on your VCR. Lots of older people could use them, but probably not every feature. Scott’s grown up with the Internet, blogs, social networks, Digg, etc. Even 5 years ago, many of these didn’t really exist, so it would be difficult to have a firm grasp on them all.

I think the real point of the article is summed up near the end and is fairly true: if a 13 year-old can launch a startup then the barrier to entry may be a lot lower than we thought. I have to agree. However, for companies looking to break in to the Internet game, whether as a startup or expanding as an established business, you simply can’t find a substitute for someone who lives and breathes and understands the beast that the Internet is - I’m sure Scott has a pretty good idea. Bottom line, anyone can hop on the Internet Superhighway, but it’s really easy to get lost.

One of the toughest searches seems to be for good icons. It’s usually easy to find standard icons, but to find a larger or broader set of icons to be used throughout a site or to find an icon set with a specific look and feel can be a bit more difficult. I’ve scoured some of the usual suspects for icons, like Smashing Magazine or famfamfam, both of which are great resources, but today I saw an article for the 50 Most Beautiful Icon Sets Created in 2008. It’s a great package of icon sets that can come in handy for designers and developers alike.

Couple other links from PSDTUTS that are worth mentioning (should’ve caught these last week, but c’est la vie!):

Best of the Web - November 2008: From custom brushes and fonts to tutorials on effects and finding inspiration, a great collection of design resources. Interested in the Slow Motion Bullet photoshop tutorial - just seems really cool!

Best of TUTS - November 2008: Web development screencasts (who wants to look at code when they’re coding?!), 10 CSS mistakes to avoid, and a collection of must-read web development books.

I was reading an article on Google Watch about trusting Google, and there are some interesting points in the article.

That Google lives and dies on trust is why I trust the search engine with my data. Here’s why. I happily use Gmail and Google Reader, not to mention Google search. I harbor no illusions about what data Google can collect on me and I freely grant it that right. It doesn’t bother me a lick that Google may collect the data and use it to forge more targeted ads on my behalf.

I think Clint Boulton’s statement on why he trusts Google is exactly why people shouldn’t trust Google. While Clint (am I allowed to call him by his first name?) understands the symbiotic relationship between provider and end-user, most people don’t. They are oblivious to the fact that they are being profiled.

I’m not one of the privacy paranoiacs, and I agree that when it comes to data theft that banks and retailers are a much bigger concern. While I trust Google now, at least as much as I trust any other such Enterprise or Corporation, will I be able to say the same thing in 1-year? 2-years? 5 or 10-years? I’m not sure I will be able to, and I’d rather be proactive rather than reactive.

With Google taking a near strangle-hold on the access of information, squeezing more and more ad revenue out of its network, and having what seems to be less and less accountability for their actions (examples here and here), isn’t it only a matter of time before the search giant becomes corrupted?

Facebook Connect Launches - There has been a lot of work done with Identity, and up until now, it seemed like OpenID was slowly becoming the leading candidate, but as Om Malik points out in the article, the number and quality of launch partner sites is one reason why Facebook is going to get more traction compared to its rivals. Another article on the topic is Why Facebook Connect Matter & Why It Will Win.

Top Stories & Searches for 2008 - In a year that seemed dominated (on both sides of the border) by the political landscape, it might be a bit surprising that Britney Spears and WWE both ranked higher than Obama on the list, however, there’s probably a reasonable explanation for the results.

2nd Annual Open Web Awards Final Voting - It might be a bit questionable to have the ‘open’ web awards being offered by a commercial entity instead of an organization of sorts, but if it really is the only multilingual international online voting competition that covers major innovations in web technology, it’s definitely got clout. Final round of voting can be found here.

Browser wars continue - As mentioned in a post earlier this week, browser market share had some interesting numbers; Firefox has passed the 20% mark, IE is below the 70% mark, and Chrome and Safari are slowly clawing out their own niche in the market.

Hirings and Firings - Maybe the specific hires like Microsoft adding former Yahoo! Exec Dr. Qi Lu as President of Online Services Group aren’t the real story. With AT&T announcing 12,000 jobs will be cut (4% of its workforce) and Google looking to eliminate projects, the tech industry is definitely being affected by the slowing of the economy.

I’ve made my own informal checklist of do’s and don’ts for web design, but I will always rely on the top-of-their-game professionals and their wisdom to help each individual project. While I consider myself a near expert on the subject, it’s often difficult to explain if for someone else to truly understand. An article on PSDTUTS does a great job of breaking down web design into 3 components: aesthetic design, information design, and interface design:

Good design isn’t just about good looks, and nowhere is this truer than in web design. In fact it makes sense to think of web design as being made up of three major non-technical components: aesthetic design, information design and interface design. If you want to be a great web designer it’s essential that you have a firm grasp of all three.

View the full article here: The 3 Components of Good Web Design.

UPDATE: The above article is part of a week-long series of articles on good web design. The rest of the articles in the series are linked to below:
9 Information Design Tips to Make You a Better Web Designer
8 Ideas, Techniques, and Tricks for Your Web Toolkit