Is another Internet bubble coming our way? That’s the sinking feeling in the minds of some observers of current events. Stuff like multi-billions of dollars being lavished to acquire Internet companies; the confab of podcasters, bloggers and other techies to be held in Seattle in June at Gnomedex 5.0; and the Pitts Baptist Church offering MP3 downloads of weekly sermons.

Marketwatch’s Frank Barnako is one such worried witness of all "this enthusiasm, optimism, and spending” that reminds him of the parties of 1999. He cites two party poopers: Dave Winer and Rex Hammock. Winer is the software developer who ‘fathered’ RSS 2.0, the technology format to deliver information through the Internet to news reader software. Hammock is a respected, innovative traditional publisher.

Winer is a bit bemused by all the hype about podcasting. "It's gotten to the height of ridiculousness," he writes on his blog. "No one has made one cent off podcasting and already the NY Times says there's a business model and tries to give the market to their friends (who haven't shipped anything). archive.scripting.com He’s referring to a John Markoff story in The Times announcing the launch of Odeo, an online service for people who want to create, produce and distribute audio programmes on the Internet. iht.com. Hammock is concerned that the hype is drawing the attention of venture capitalists and corporate executives who "can screw up podcasting by throwing money at it." rexblog.com. Jay Conrad Levinson, the guerrilla marketer guru, scents an opportunity in using the Net to distribute audio infomercials or ‘Nanocasts’ as he calls them, though.

SPAM & VIRUSES. Current scene.

Did you know that the US continues to lead as the most spam-generating country in the world? In fact, it generates 22.8 per cent of the global spam, honest. “European countries account for nearly 25 per cent of the world's spam, according to Commtouch, a provider of anti-spam solutions. The bulk (88 percent) of this volume originates in EU member nations, which may seem counterintuitive, as the EU boasts some of the world's strictest anti-spam laws,” reports Rob McGann in ‘The Deadly Duo: Spam and Viruses, February 2005’. He quotes Oren Drori, Commtouch's Director (Product Marketing) on a very significant aspect of this issue: "These trends contradict prevalent assumptions: that spam is primarily sent from developing areas," said Oren Drori, Commtouch's director of product marketing.

"In fact, Commtouch analysis shows that wealthy countries of Western Europe are the source of more spam than developing eastern European counterparts. The same trend can also be seen in the Asia Pacific region: richer countries simply spam more." Trailing the US as the leading spam-originator are South Korea (almost 22 per cent), China (12.5 per cent), France (4.4 per cent) and Spain (3.3 per cent). On the virus front, the bad news is that variants of the Netsky virus were once again the most prevalent form of viral attack in February. The good news is that phishing viruses arrived in Central Command's ‘Dirty Dozen’ list of the most prevalent viruses for the first time ever. clickz.com. This column last covered phishing here: hindustantimes.com (‘AFTER PHISHING. Pharming, it is.’)

LIAR, LIAR. Seth Godin quizzed.

“Are all marketers liars? That's what Seth Godin says in his new book. His last two, ‘Purple Cow’ and ‘Free Prize Inside,’ evangelised the big, crazy idea. Now Godin explores the central role of the fib in all advertising. He's been promoting ‘All Marketers are Liars,’ due this spring, on his blog with anecdotes about the deceit underlying various marketing strategies,” writes Zachary Rodgers in ‘Questions for Seth Godin’. To his query ‘What's a favorite lie you tell about yourself?’ Godin replies: “The lie that's particularly effective for me is that I know what I'm doing.

That's a story that people want to believe, and so it's effective in helping people get what they want — find the ideas they want, make the changes they want, etc.” How very true! To the question “If all marketers are liars, where do you draw the ethical line between a decent lie and a horrible lie?” Godin’s answer is: “Fibs and Frauds.

A fib is a story that makes us feel better about doing something. If we find out it's a fib later on, well, it's okay, because we're still glad we did it. A nightclub tells a fib. So does perfume. A fraud on the other hand is a story that attracts us but it turns out to be the opposite. SUVs are a fraud. They're not only not safer, they're less safe. They kill people. Once you find that out, it's not okay.”clickz.com.

VOICE-OVER REVISITED. In the makeover mode.

The old Godlike voice-over is no more, claims Seth Stevenson (‘Makeover Goodbye, "voice of God." Hello, Julia Roberts.’) slate.msn.com. Its place in the TV ads has been usurped by the celebrity’s “warm, laid-back tone”. Imagine Jeff Bridges in a friendly growl selling you Duracell. (It’s happening here, too, if you’ve noticed.) Stevenson lists six ‘trends’. (1) “Celebrity voices are indeed hot.”

(2) “Voices are skewing younger.” (3) “Announcers are out, ‘real people’ are in.” (4) “The talent pool has widened.” (5) “It's less about reading, more about inhabiting a character.” (6) “It's still an inexact science.” Could all this have come about as a corollary to celebrity voices lending their voices to cartoon characters in hit movies? I wonder.

DESTROYED & DEMOLISHED. All your pet hates.

Is there a website you love to hate? Go to netdisaster.com and terminate it out of existence. You’ve several methods of demolition to choose from: nuclear weapons, Martian spacecraft, ‘slowburn’, fried eggs and what have you. It’s designed to please the child in you, believe you me. I owe this one to Rich Gordon’s 28 March E-Media Tidbits post.

NO PLACE TO HIDE. Where’s that?

Right here: noplacetohide.net/. It’s “a multimedia investigation by news organizations working together across print and broadcast platforms, to make a greater impact than any one organization could alone.” There’s a scary warning out there that sounds like its a straight lift out of The X-Files: “When you go to work, stop at the store, fly in a plane, or surf the web, you are being watched. They know where you live, the value of your home, the names of your friends and family, in some cases even what you read. Where the data revolution meets the needs of national security, there is no place to hide.” Just what the doctor ordered for paranoiacs, what? PS: Just kidding, folks.