Dare Obasanjo links to a CNET News interview with Bill Gates where he reveals that about a million MSN Spaces have been created.

Obviously my saying that MSN Spaces isn't for me hasn't hurt its adoption rate.

News:

It's official: Six Apart buys LiveJournal. I think this is a winner, even though the cultures don't match up. Why is it? Well, LiveJournal has a much younger audience. SixApart is positioned best for professional and business bloggers.

So, the two spheres are complimentary.

Technorati adds keyword watchlists. Ahh, yet another way to stroke your ego. Er, do market research! :-)

If you've never subscribed to Engadget, this would be a great week to do it. They are covering the Consumer Electronics' Show in Las Vegas. Here's a post from Bill Gates' keynote live.

I decided not to go. If I had caught up with my email, maybe, but I have 350+ emails to answer.

Jeremy Wright was fired for doing it. Translation: he was Dooced.

Dang, a post about it without mentioning it. Ahh, this is gonna be a long month.

Ahh, it's gonna be hard to avoid saying that darn word. But, the folks over at Bigha are doing some interesting writing. Who's Bigha? Well, they sell green lasers. You can guess the rest of the story.

That last post cost me $5.

Everytime this month I mention the word #### (a four-letter word that rhymes with fog) on my #### I will donate $5 to the Tsunami relief effort.

Just on this, um, website, you understand. I've gotta break myself of always talking about personal journals and this will be a fun way to do it.

Dave Winer asks will the pros support the confidentiality of sources, even when it comes to smaller fan sites?

I wonder just the opposite: if the blogosphere is willing to support the confidentiality of sources for both pro and micro journalism?

Why do I ask? Because Shel Israel stood up for a free press more than 10 days ago and didn't get much of a whimper from the blogosphere.

But the blogosphere SHOULD be concerned about both of these things (Apple suing fan sites and professionals getting thrown in jail).

Why does this matter?

Well, let's look at Engadget or Gizmodo. Our two favorite gadget sites. Did you know that they've been threatened with lawsuits from big companies for exactly these reasons? I won't name the companies, but they are brands you know and probably love.

But the blogosphere doesn't care. Really. Look at how many comments Shel's post has gotten. Look at how many trackbacks he's gotten. Then head over to Groklaw, the site that is keeping tabs on a whole raft of legal issues. Is there a mention there of either of these issues? No.

I'm in the middle of doing a feed run. I've seen very few comments on either of these issues.

Over at Slashdot I don't see either of these covered. Maybe I missed them.

Here's why you need to worry. It is a journalist's JOB to ask what's coming. To ask people like me for news. Which includes products coming. It's MY JOB to keep quiet.

But, by going after the journalists you'll ensure that they stop asking questions. This puts a chill on speech.

Think about it. Will Engadget be able to report anything other than what corporate PR wants them to report if these suits are even close to successful?

And, keep in mind that even if you know you will be able to defend a lawsuit like this it could bankrupt a small fan site.

So, blogosphere, do you care? Or are you going to wait until they put some bloggers out of business before doing anything?

Chris Lanier didn't get an MVP award from Microsoft and is mad about it. Hey, you're an MVP in my mind, Chris. I subscribe to your feed and you have one of the best blogs on Windows Media Center I've found and I appreciate everything you've done for me and Microsoft.

Update: Chris pulled the post, more news coming tomorrow.

Ed Bott: more details on "poisoned" Windows Media Files.

Ed knows Windows better than most people. He wrote a 1200-page book on Windows. Does anyone read those things? I use Ed's book to elevate my Tablet PC up to a better height. Once in a while I look inside trying to learn a tip or something. I'm always impressed.

Om Malik gets another exclusive (Six Apart is going to buy Live Journal). How does he do it? I don't know, but he was at the geek dinner last week.

Congrats to Brad and team! Brad was at one of my first geek dinners. In fact, I think he's responsible for me calling them geek dinners instead of blogger dinners. We had a little bit of a flame war because I called my first dinner a Blogger dinner and he thought that Live Journal's members would feel left out.

If I remember right, he wanted me to call them "journalers' dinners" or something like that. But even then, three years ago, the world was calling these things "blogs."

Darn, there I go talking about blogs again.

I just paid for another year of Radio UserLand (that's the tool I use to publish my blog). This is the first time I've actually paid for my own copy (I used to work for the company and they gave me free service).

It cost me $80 to renew for another year. Not bad when you consider I've had millions of visits since starting this up.

Last night I posted a demo with Daniel Lehenbauer of the Avalon 3D team. When I wrote about open source marketing, I got called names by a few of my readers, but this is what I was thinking of. Look at how readers from around the world are adding URLs, asking hard questions, adding onto the discovery process.

Compare that to the old way of doing marketing. Where you'd get a brochure at a trade show or maybe a VHS movie you'd take home and watch.

The new marketing lets a large number of people figure out whether something is good or not, and either way they can add onto the "brochure" themselves.

Microsoft is no longer in control of the message: you are.

Yesterday my book partner Shel Israel posted first draft of our book's table of contents. We'd love your comments.

Slate reviews desktop search engines. Says Copernic is #1. Oh, review done by Paul Boutin, cool.

First there was the Simms, now there's a Simm-like party site. You build your own virtual party. Hey, I'm too busy planning the world's cheesiest 40th birthday party, so someone else will have to tell me how good this is.

Angelo Fernando: Random acts of kindness, on a large scale.

How do you help people? Follow Angelo's example, that's how.