Marc Andreessen, of Netscape fame, explains on his blog all about his latest venture, Ning, a social network platform.  He says he and his co-founder Gina Bianchini created Ning to let thousands of social networks bloom.

Four words Steve Rubel says many journalists have trouble saying, he believes. Not so Jim Hopkins of USA Today. Steve recounts how he responded to a link asking him to fill out a survey seeking his iPhone buying intentions. From then on the enterprising journalist enlisted readers to help develop his story with first hand accounts and pictures. He gets full marks from Mr Rubel.

Among the acres of newsprint, virtual and physical, devoted to Apple’s iPhone, this homage stands out:

This device, portrayed as a harmless product of science, is obviously designed to introduce our children to witchcraft and sorcery.

Read on….

The Crisis in Darfur project uses Google Earth to organise information about the humanitarian crisis in one of Africa’s blighted spots in a very effective way. Makes you wonder what other, perhaps less emotionally challenging, data sets might not find a better way of expressing themselves in the Google Earth metaverse. Wired has the story.

And seperately, Wired writes about the impact Google Maps has had: “Google maps is changing the way we see the world“, no less.

Is the new, open, content-friendly Yahoo! going to end up as the publisher’s best friend. This video of Yahoo! Network boss Jeff Weiner hints at some changes to come, as Yahoo! tries to differentiate itself in the post-Semel world.

Technorati Tags: GYM, media, search

Just downloaded the Blogger widget for Mac and this post is proof (or otherwise!) that it works.