Is blogging the new form of Journalism? Should bloggers be held to the same standards as the media? These are the questions that need to be answered as you watch this video from Chris Pirillo of http://live.pirillo.com.

Some of the Comments on this Video:

Commentor 1: Good subject chrus. If you are getting paid to blog for a company, then you have a set of standards, and therefore should be held accountable.

In many cases, bloggers are more trusted than journalists, because good bloggers link out to things they write about thereby sourcing their work.

All good writers, whether a blogger, journalist or both, should practice good writing, and good writing includes being responsible for what you write.

Commentor 2: I can not say I am a good writer in the English language, but I hate seeing a blog with only pictures on it. They take longer to load in my opinion. If all I want to post is pictures then I open a web gallery instead. I hear picasa is a good. These bloggers are degrading all those that want more than just a fresh look at someone’s behind. At least tell the audience why you think that behind is that special in a paragragh or two, before taking such bold move.

Commentor 3: I don’t believe bloggers are journalists as journalism takes some skill, however I do believe they play a fairly important role in providing sometimes useful or interesting information, via the web.

I have a blog and also do some journalism work. they do not cross.

Marriage, truly presents one of the most complicated personal problems in human life. In marriage the most emotionally affecting as well as the most idealistic of all human dreams has to be worked out harmoniously into an ordinary working relationship.

Our romantic partner in life is less than perfect. We accept their human frailties and pride ourselves on our sense of reality. When it comes to love we stubbornly grip our illusions—to conscious and unconscious visions of how things should be. When it comes to love—to romantic love and sexual love and married love—we have to learn again with difficulty, how to let go of all kinds of expectations. For even when we marry with an earthier vision of what a good marriage should be, the married state—and the person whom we are sharing it with—must fail to meet some, sometimes, all of our expectations: that we will always be there for each other, that we will always be loyal to each other, that we will accept each other’s imperfections, that we will never consciously hurt each other, that our marriage will be our sanctuary, our refuge, our “haven in a heartless world.”

The tensions and conflicts of married life may begin with the death of romantic expectations, so beautifully experienced by the partners when love is still during its spring time, when everything seems to be meaningful, when the world in the eyes of the lovers is all set in stage for a romantic daydreaming.

The good news is that sometimes the bond between a husband and wife is stronger than any damage that can be done to it. The bad news is that no two adults can do each other more damage than husband and wife. According to a DALLAS FAMILY LAWYER, when the time comes when the couple is no longer happy with each other, the need to let the other set free becomes not only a practical act but also a kindly gesture. The same dallas family lawyer told me that marriage is not only a bed of roses; it can be a bed of thorns when the relationship is no longer working. I really admire this Dallas Family Lawyer because he has been handling divorce cases for the past years. She works well with her client and is widely known for her legal dexterity. That all is fair in love and law, perhaps, works well and good in your personal marital case.

Our ability to reach across time and space and build connections via technology with anyone, anywhere and at any time is changing more than our sense of community; it’s changing how we communicate, too.

“There is a new language being produced, although it’s not replacing our existing language,” says anthropologist Patricia Sachs Chess, founder and president of Social Solutions Inc., a consulting firm in Tempe, Ariz.

Chess and others point to the use of slang and jargon (both pre-existing and newly developed for today’s instant communication tools), phonics, abbreviations and colloquial syntax as the evolving standards for electronic discourse.

And this new vernacular is spilling over into traditional writing and oral exchanges. “The first thing that comes to mind is the term bandwidth,” Chess says. “It is a technology term and has become incorporated in the language in ways such as, ‘Do you have enough bandwidth to take on that project?’ There’s also ‘I’ll IM you’ and ‘Just text me.’ “

While we aren’t seeing those yet in formal writing, she says, they are common in casual writing such as e-mails and in everyday conversation.

This emerging language could presage even deeper changes in what we value, which skills we possess and, ultimately, what we’re capable of. For example, Gregory S. Smith, vice president and CIO at World Wildlife Fund, a Washington-based nonprofit, says he has seen the quality of writing among younger generations of workers decline in the past decade or so, corresponding with the rise in instant messaging, texting and Twitter.

“The advent of tools that allow for these short types of content are flooding the Internet with writing that doesn’t matter, and they’re lowering the grammatical and writing skills of our up-and-coming professionals,” says Smith, who also teaches at Johns Hopkins University.

The contribution of the Internet for the purpose of researching was undeniably a great one. In fact, researchers prefer to use the Internet as the information source rather than books. But are you one of those who have gotten tired of the numerous pages of results being showed to you when in fact it is monotonous in content? Well, Wolfram Alpha will be the key for this problem.

Wolfram Alpha is the computer software invented by Dr. Stephen Wolfram, a British inventor, which will function in the same way as Google. However, the difference is that it will provide the very answer for the specific query the user has entered. Wolfram Alpha will not only give you straight answer but will give you detailed charts and images of the people or thing you are researching on. It will also feature more accurate results since the answers that will be given will be assessed first by experts. With these distinct feats, Wolfram Alpha might be able to surpass the ability or search engines such as Google and Wikipedia.

For me who is an avid user of the Internet, if Wolfram Alpha will be released (probably near the end of the month of May), Google and Wikipedia will be obsolete search engines to some extent. With the birth of the Wolfram Alpha, the research of students and other researchers will be easy since accurate answers will be given with detailed representations.

Today’s Twitters are often tomorrow’s quitters, according to data that questions the long-term success of the latest social networking sensation used by celebrities from Oprah Winfrey to Britney Spears.

Data from Nielsen Online, which measures Internet traffic, found that more than 60 percent of Twitter users stopped using the free social networking site a month after joining.

“Twitter’s audience retention rate, or the percentage of a given month’s users who come back the following month, is currently about 40 percent,” David Martin, Nielsen Online’s vice president of primary research, said in a statement.

“For most of the past 12 months, pre-Oprah, Twitter has languished below 30 percent retention.”

San Francisco-based Twitter was created three years ago as an Internet-based service that could allow people to follow the 140-character messages or “tweets” of friends and celebrities which could be sent to computer screens or mobile devices.

But it has enjoyed a recent explosion in popularity on the back of celebrities such as actor Ashton Kutcher and U.S. talk show host Oprah Winfrey singing its praises and sending out “tweets” which can alert readers to breaking news or the sender’s sometimes mundane activities.

President Barack Obama used Twitter during last year’s campaign and other prominent celebrities on Twitter include basketballer Shaquille O’Neal and singers Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus.

Twitter, as a private company, does not disclose the number of its users but according to Nielsen Online, Twitter’s website had more than 7 million unique visitors in February this year compared to 475,000 in February a year ago.

But Martin said a retention rate of 40 percent will limit a site’s growth to a 10 percent reach figure over the longer term.

“There simply aren’t enough new users to make up for defecting ones after a certain point,” he said in a statement.

Martin said Facebook and MySpace, the more established social network sites, enjoyed retention rates that were twice as high and those rates only rose when they went through their explosive growth phases.

Both currently have retention rates of about 70 percent with Facebook having about 200 million users.

“Twitter has enjoyed a nice ride over the last few months, but it will not be able to sustain its meteoric rise without establishing a higher level of user loyalty,” said Martin.

With so many changes that have occurred through the years in various fields, man has become so absorbed in his mundane existence. In technology alone, man has become a master of his own fate, the captain of his own ship. Material culture has dramatically influenced our way of thinking. But, let us not forget that we are not creatures of technology and culture. We create technology. We create culture.

So many things have cropped up since time immemorial about human existence. Philosophers from various periods of time have pondered over the questions about the whys and ifs of life. Are you wondering about the purpose of life? What is the very raison d etre why we exist? What is the essence of human existence? Is our fate predetermined? Does life give us what we expect of it?

These and other numerous endless questions are still left unresolved. Though attempts have been made to solve this puzzling sphinx, a lay reader like me still remains in quandary, still seeking satisfactory answers. Getting into the heart of the matter, these questions pose metaphorical difficulties to some uninitiated readers. But as this concerns our very temporal concerns, it is significant that the heart and the mind are satiated with knowledge and wisdom about the nature of truth. As the Great Book states “set the truth and the truth shall set you free.” By knowing the truth, we liberate ourselves from ignorance to see the light and eventually to achieve salvation.

Have we, fellow bloggers, ever thought of this?

Wondering about the purpose of life? Head over to The Science of Identity, a foundation that aims to help encourage individuals into finding their real purpose. Get to know more about this through the Science of Identity’s profile.

Google to Buy Expedia? Is this true? Yes!, A month from now rumors has been circulating the internet that Google may prowl to swallow up Expedia.com. Expedia which currently has a market cap of $2.24 Billion could probably be acquired by Google for around $3 billion, give or take a couple hundred million dollars. Expedia finds the best travel deals on anything from hotels, to airfare, to rental cars, to Cruises, and to travel activities. Their service really is top of the line. Take it from someone who just purchased airline tickets from them a few months back at a rate, which in my opinion was phenomenal. Google could take the current setup and work it into their search results. So if someone was to search for “cheap airfare from New York to Los Angeles” the Expedia prices would quickly pop up in the actual search results without you even having to visit their site. This is a sure advantage for Google who would be taking advantage of Economies of scope. The two companies are sure complements to one another, and any regulatory concerns will not be a factor. Will the deal go through? I certainly think we will be hearing more about this possible acquisition in the days and weeks ahead. With market values for companies’ way down, it is an ideal time for larger companies to shop around for cheap acquisitions. Note that Expedia stock is currently trading at about a 70% discount from last years highs.

But the stock of Expedia (EXPE) and Google (GOOG) have gone up considerably. Would this acquisition on Google’s part make sense?

Internet has many benefits to us it may help us in our studies, researches, daily lives; communicate with other students nationwide or even worldwide. They can also share their knowledge and gain knowledge too, send their experiences, and share their ideas and learn more. The Internet has revolutionized the academic life both students and professionals alike. Through the Internet, we can research even the hardest topic. With just a single click of the mouse, and presto, you have the research in just a second. Teachers can also derive benefits on the Internet; through it they can teach their topics easily — no sweat.

Internet has many good things can do to us. It may help us easily understand the topic we can’t get in our library but in but through surfing the Internet, you will be able to find it in just a second. However, in its good things we may find bad things in this Internet. Some are using this Internet as a medium to spread pornography and black propaganda. Pornographic websites abound. They showing pornographic films and pictures and scandals that children’s can view by using the Internet. I think it’s once of the causes of having premarital sex that is getting a bit alarming as the days go by. Internet is a helpful partner in us but it may also cause addiction. But responsible Internet use is the key to make the Internet the partner for education and research.