links for 2009-02-19

"Prompted by a reader comment last week, we thought it'd be handy to have a directory of websites containing maps of London."

"Despite the concerns, in yesterday's ruling Judge Amy Hay concluded that the Borings could not prove they had suffered as a result of having their home photographed, particularly as they had not contacted Google to request that the images be removed. The Borings also made public their home address on court documents."

Prototype "river of news" view of the BBC site. Could do with an RSS feed though ;-)

"[Mark Thompson is] more powerful, in the sense that the executive board of the BBC, with non-execs sitting on it, is now chaired by the DG and his influence over the workings of the BBC is arguably stronger than at anytime in the BBC's history. But, at the same time, more vulnerable, because he is increasingly the only real figurehead for BBC decisions with no chairman to support him in a conventional way."

"Tough measures to combat touts profiteering from music and sports events will be unveiled today by the government, in a move that could see people needing photo ID to get into venues."

"The temperature is rising in Greece as over the last 48 hours there has been a machine gun attack on TV station in the capital, a massive car bomb defused, a professor beaten while giving a talk at the university of Athens. Not to mention yesterday passers by beat a mugger to death here in Thessaloniki and yet another asylum seeker committed suicide while in police custody near Athens airport."

"Solange Knowles has given Erykah Badu a run for her money after Twittering her way through a collapse upon disembarking from a plane. The singer, who is a sister of superstar Beyonce, took some cold remedy pills with a sleeping aid when she boarded a flight from New York, and updated her status as she began to feel unwell."

"Men At Work's guitarist has reportedly been arrested for allegedly threatening to kill the band's lead singer". Insert your own vegemite sandwich punchline here.

"There seemed to be two approaches at BeebCamp. The Publisher approach which saw the process very much as part of content creation, adding value to the end product, such as a news story. Then there is the Enabling approach which sees the very process of participation as an educational end in itself. In the end it is a dialogue and it has costs."

"For small business owners, entrepreneurs, managers and professionals, it's become an especially sticky problem. We convince ourselves that online networking is important for marketing. It is not just personal, we tell ourselves. It is BUSINESS. However, in the terrestrial world, no business owner does marketing all day long to the exclusion of other activities. Sometimes we’re just kidding ourselves." [via Librarian of Fortune]

"I think Martin Belam is right". I'm glad *somebody* does...

"By now, all good designers and developers realize the importance of usability for their work. Usable websites offer great user experiences, and great user experiences lead to happy customers. Delight and satisfy your visitors, rather than frustrate and annoy them, with smart design decisions. Here are 9 usability problems that websites commonly face, and some recommended solutions for each of them."

Choice quote: "Correcting people in the comments is as cowardly as publishing a tabloid apology on the bottom of page twenty-nine, and you know it. You should be f$%&ing ashamed of yourself."

"There is this army of people who are out there serving the industry of journalism who police this in quite a private and quiet way"