Found a cool site with great graphics, I am quite impressed. Had never heard about this newer show from cinemax, and I have no idea if it’s any good, but I do like the web site design and video upload aspect of the mini social network they have going on there.
 Man in China dies after three-day Internet session
BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese man dropped dead after playing Internet games for three consecutive days, state media said on Monday as China seeks to wean Internet addicts offline.
The man from the southern boomtown of Guangzhou, aged about 30, died on Saturday after being rushed to the hospital from the Internet cafe, local authorities were quoted by the Beijing News as saying.
“Police have ruled out the possibility of suicide,” the newspaper said, adding that exhaustion was the most likely cause of death. It did not say what game he was playing.
China, worried about the spread of pornography and politically incorrect content, has banned the opening of new cybercafes this year and issued orders limiting the time Internet users can spend playing online.
In April, President Hu Jintao launched a campaign to rid the Internet of “unhealthy” content and make it a platform for Communist Party doctrine.
Wow, this is something. I wonder how many more we will have in the future. Of course leave it to an authority body to use a story like this to induce restrictions on personal freedoms.
 Found an intersting take on these sites Stickam and IMVU
Here is an excerpt:
 On first opening Stickam, it’s hard to know what to make of it. The site overwhelms you with pictures and content, but a little reading reveals that you can not only watch the web cams of other people, but you can broadcast your own. The idea for this post didn’t come to me until the next morning, so I don’t have a screen cap of what we saw, but I did go back to the young lady’s profile page the next morning just to see what was going on at that time, and that is what you see to the left here. This girl is on her web cam all the time. The “show” to which she is referring (her text is in pink - we removed all personally identifiable information from the screen cap) was her and her friend lifting their shirts, their skirts, and pretty much doing whatever the “viewers” wanted.
The cool, and scary, thing about Stickam is that you can broadcast from your own computer to anyone who wants to sit in a chat room with you. You are directing your own show, and people can come and interact with you. The challenge here, of course, as has been ably demonstrated by the many instances of Girls Gone Wild videos, is that when given an opportunity to put on a show, people will. Further, when given an opportunity to view a voyeuristic soft porn show, people will. Couple with that the ability for the viewers to give direct feedback, and the show participants actually doing it, well things can get out of hand.
I had seen an article on yahoo news about myspace starting to better target ads using your info that is posted on myspace (another reason to fake that info by the way). Of course I think they have already been targeting info based upon what is in your profile, at least it certainly seemed that way to me. Just look at the ads on your profile and compare to someone of the opposite sex when they are logged in.
I enjoyed the Boing Boing discussion about the more personalized ads at myspace, and look forward to more being written about ads and social networks at global advanced media blog soon.
Well some of the real world is finally making it into the news. I am so tired of people saying the numbers are great! The economy is great! Just look at the numbers. Well I’m telling you the economy sucks. Sure corporations may be doing just fine, but the average everyday person is not doing well, and there are finally some stories to back that up.
Today from yahoo news / reuters…
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - More than half of U.S. consumers plan to eat out less in the next three months due to jitters over declining home values, high gas prices and the overall economy, according to a survey by RBC Capital Markets.
The survey of 1,000 people found that 54 percent of Americans said they would eat at restaurants less often over the next three months. Two of five respondents said they are already dining out less frequently than they were six months ago.
“Volatile stock markets, declining home values, higher energy costs and overall concern about the economy are reducing Americans’ appetite for dining out,” RBC analyst Larry Miller said in a statement.
The survey’s results come as many sit-down restaurant chains are struggling to reel in customers, while cheaper fast-food restaurants are generally seeing strong sales.
Last week, bar-and-grill chain Ruby Tuesday Inc. warned that its quarterly earnings would fall short of Wall Street estimates as higher gas prices, interest rates and competitive discounting hurt sales.
In contrast, hamburger chain McDonald’s Corp. a week earlier reported an 8.1 percent rise in August same-store sales, easily beating analysts’ expectations on strong breakfast and beverage sales in the United States.
Nevertheless, price is not the main factor consumers consider when choosing a restaurant, the survey said.
Fifty-five percent said food quality was the biggest driver, while 18 percent said menu offerings. Just 12 percent of respondents said price was their main consideration, and 10 percent said convenience.
Women, baby boomers, people with household incomes under $50,000 and residents of the U.S. Northeast and South were the most likely to have cut back on restaurant meals, the survey said.
The 11 percent of respondents who said they have been eating out more are mostly young, single males who prefer fast food, RBC said.
(Reporting by Nichola Groom, editing by Brian Moss)