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A funny thing happened to us on the way to the future. The internet went from being something exotic to being boring utility, like mains electricity or running water -- and we never really noticed. We wound up being totally dependent on a system about which we are terminally incurious. The internet has quietly infiltrated our lives, and yet we seem to be remarkably unreflective about it. That is not because we are short of information about the network; on the contrary, we are awash with the stuff. It is just that we do not know what it all means. We are in the state of "informed bewilderment."

"One of the most underrated realities about North Korea is its very dynamic relationship with China, and the amount of information that flows across that border. Students; business people; it's a continuous stream of traffic," says Steven Linton, an American aid worker in North Korea. With that traffic come thousands of DVDs, CDs, cellular telephones, used computers and videotapes -- many of them from China and South Korea.

Many Koreans in China make a living by setting up satellite TVs at their homes to receive South Korean media. Then, they burn CDs and DVDs of the programs and sell them to North Koreans for a profit. These media are so prevalent inside North Korea now that knowledge about South Korea has become commonplace, says Yoo Ho-yeol, a professor at Korea University in Seoul. Yoo regularly talks to students and refugees from North Korea.

Scientists say juggling e-mail, phone calls, and other incoming information can change how people think and behave. They say our ability to focus is being undermined by bursts of information. These play to a primitive impulse to respond to immediate opportunities and threats. The stimulation provokes a dopamine squirt that can be addictive.

While many people say multitasking makes them more productive, research shows otherwise. Heavy multitaskers actually have more trouble focusing and shutting out irrelevant information, scientists say, and they experience more stress. And scientists are discovering that even after the multitasking ends, fractured thinking and lack of focus persist.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/technology/07brain.html?pagewanted=print

Most consumers (91%) would be unwilling to pay to access Rupert Murdoch's Times Online. Only 5% said they would fork out £2 for a week's digital subscription, while 4% said they would pay £1 for a day's access. News International will introduce paywalls around its online content in the next month. Earlier this week News International's commercial chief, Paul Hayes, said he would be "in the shit" if the group's paywall plans did not work.

It is perhaps the biggest threat to the nation's mental wellbeing, yet it is freely available on every street -- for pennies. The dealers claim it expands the mind and bolsters the intellect: users experience an initial rush of emotion (often euphoria or rage), followed by what they believe is a state of enhanced awareness.

Tragically this "awareness" is a delusion. As they grow increasingly detached from reality, heavy users often exhibit impaired decision-making abilities, becoming paranoid, agitated and quick to anger. In extreme cases they have even been known to form mobs and attack people. The drug is called a newspaper.

In its purest form, a newspaper consists of a collection of facts which, in controlled circumstances, can actively improve knowledge. Unfortunately, facts are expensive, so to save costs and drive up sales, unscrupulous dealers often "cut" the basic contents with cheaper material, such as wild opinion, bullshit, and empty hysteria.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/22/charlie-brooker-newspapers-dangerous-drug

Demand Media is a content-provider start-up that has quickly become the web's least understood and most vilified juggernaut. The company has come up with a ruthlessly efficient way to churn out stories it knows will be profitable online. The topics may seem bizarre, but the method, though controversial, is unquestionably a success.

Demand Media runs a slew of popular internet portals, including eHow.com, Cracked.com and Livestrong.com that receive 100 million hits a month. The company, based in Santa Monica, is also directing an army of freelancers to write stories that appear in traditional media outlets. More deals with large off-line brands will be announced soon.

Demand Media has a horde of more than 7,000 freelancers. One person takes the algorithm's output and turns it into a headline; another writes the article and passes it on to a copy editor, who does fact-checking and fiddles with grammar. All told, it may take less than a day for a short article to get posted and start earning ad revenue.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1971409,00.html

A study of ten mainstream newspapers in Australia found that nearly 55% of stories were driven by some form of public relations. The Daily Telegraph came out on top of the league ladder with 70% of stories triggered by PR entities. The Sydney Morning Herald had 42% PR-driven stories in the period.

Many journalists and editors were defensive when asked about the results. Who would blame them? They are busier than ever, under resourced, on deadline, and under pressure. Most refused to respond, others asked for their comments to be withdrawn out of fear they would be reprimanded or fired.

http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/03/15/over-half-your-news-is-spin/

For companies whose core product is content, the idea we internet visionaries sold is a load of crap. We persuaded executives to compete with themselves online by setting up web sites that offered for free the same content their staffs labored so strenuously to produce and sell in their print publications. Companies were supposed make money by "monetizing the attention economy," or some other similarly vaporous concept.

Now the internet is pulverizing them. Following our lead, companies have now trained a generation of young people to never, ever, ever expect to pay for content on a laptop or desktop. But this is not quite the apocalypse. Many new digital platforms are brewing, and early on in the development of each one there will be a battle for the business model. Every new device is another chance to turn it all around.

The first decade of the web could come to be seen as a momentary aberration. So, media companies, on behalf of all misdirected internet visionaries, I am sorry. We like you -- we really do -- and we do not want a world without you. If you can hold on until we all have new kinds of screens, and new sets of expectations, you will be fine. You will be different, but fine. Just do not take my word for it this time. Ask around.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/234123