So I read that Bill Gates, yes that Bill Gates, has joined LinkedIn. I jump on and hunt for Mr. Microsoft only to find a question that he posed but, alas, I can't access his profile. It seems he employed the privacy setting that limits his profile to folks who share a connection with him. That's not me, aparently; I'm obviously not connecting with the right people.

His question -- How can we do more to encourage young people to pursue careers in science and technology? -- spurred more than 3,000 replies. And it has helped LinkedIn advertise the fact that it will be offering its users ways to update their status through a new tool it's developed.

The whole idea of "status" is an interesting one.

Very interesting to see that iTunes is now the second largest retailer of music in the country. Only the big box Wal-Mart sells more, and iTunes is expected to eclipse it later this year.

What a juggernaut. Who would have thought that Apple would be such a dominant force in a relatively short period of time.

This info, from market research company NPD Group, includes this tidbit: 48 percent of teens didn't buy a single compact disc last year, up from 38 percent the year before. The company also notes that a million people stopped buying CDs in 2007.

Talk about a favorable trend for iTunes and a not so favorable trend for music retailers.

Do you still buy CDs? The last one I bought was The Rising by Springsteen. I bought Magic, though, his latest, on iTunes and now have The Boss fully represented on my iPod nano.

Just makes so much more sense to use the iPod as my music source, especially since I bought an Altec Lansing dock, which I love. Great sound, recharges my iPod, five-hour battery, and an FM tuner, to boot.

Known for its glitzy TV ads with star power (though they haven’t done much for Michael Jackson nor Britney Spear’s career) Pepsi-Cola is launching their new beverage line without traditional media.

Pepsi-Cola North America will market its new no-calorie, carbonated drinks named Tava without TV, newspaper and magazine advertising. New age drinks such as Brazilian Samba and Tahitian Tamure will rely on the web and free samples to create a ‘buzz’. Tava’s marketing is mostly contained to its website (www.Tava.com), banner ads, and free samples to movers and shakers at MTV and other ‘hot’ organizations crawling with mavens of cool.

My recent article Web 2.0 fails the grade, according to executives, republished on www.Ragan.com (membership required) drew a string of visceral responses. Most couldn’t agree more with my assertion that “Web 2.0 does not deliver the ROI, does not live up the hype, and is not even close to being a top priority for senior management (not all, but most).”

Supporting my assertion is a recent CIO study, Top Technology Priorities for 2008, that reveals that even techies don’t consider Web 2.0 as a priority. A couple of people disagree including a colleague of mine, Shel Holtz, who points to contrary research from CIO and Forrester.

Research is a big business. And there are so many forms and so many formats that it is in fact quite easy to develop a research study that produces just about whatever results you want. Genuine researchers, and there are many, will wince at the suggestion and leap to defend their industry and practices. They are right most of th time and their defense is well-based as most studies are astutely conducted with no smoke and mirrors, but understanding the research source, type and sample or target audience is the most critical part to understanding the study and its conclusions.

As part of an initiative for “transforming the Starbucks customer experience” the Seattle coffee maker has launched a new, social website for customers. MyStarbucksIdea.com is part of a greater strategic thrust for bettering their coffee business and engaging their customers.

The site actively engages customers for their ideas on improving Starbucks, allows customers to vote on and comment on the ideas, and serves as a vehicle for implementing those ideas at Starbucks coffee houses:

“What’s your Starbucks Idea? Revolutionary or simple—we want to hear it. Share your ideas, tell us what you think of other people’s ideas and join the discussion. We’re here, and we’re ready to make ideas happen. Let’s get started.”

My first reaction to learning about this new site: how bloody patronizing and pretentious! Who do they think they are, The Body Shop? Why not just launch a new website dedicated to “Going Green” in an effort to convince me that the millions of disposable cups they add to the landfills of the world somehow actually benefit our forests and drinking water (errr, coffee)?

Wow, now I've seen it all. The IRS has several video spots on YouTube talking about the rebates that are coming our way. I only hope the videos didn't cost $93,421 each to produce, thereby taking yet another bite out of my check.

Just goes to show how mainstream YouTube has become. My daughter has some videos she created melding photos, lyrics, and songs of bands like Boys Like Girls. A couple of hers have more than 9,000 page views.

I'm hoping the videos we are putting up there from Colgate do that well. And I can only hope the videos do better than IRS videos.

Check out one of the IRS vids here.