The Australian and New Zealand edition of US style bible Nylon magzine has closed down, according to a report in the Australian.

Nylon is an very successful fashion, lifestyle and arts magazine that was started in New York in 1999 (one of the founders was model Helena Christensen).

The publisher of the Australian/New Zealand edition has blamed the availability of the US edition of the magazine on the Nylon web site and MySpace before the Australian edition even hit the shelves.

I know hindsight has 20/20 vision, but did the publisher really have spend several hundred thousand dollars to find out the bleeding obvious?

The US House of Representatives has voted to ban the use of social networking sites in publicly funded organizations, such as schools and libraries. The ban comes in response to several cases of predators using social networking sites, such as MySpace, to meet young people.

The proposed law will forbid schools and libraries from allowing young people to access web sites with chat rooms or social networking functionality. Adults will still be able to access these services, but will need permission.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will determine which sites will fall under the control of the new Act.

An interesting article in the New York Times argues that blogging fits naturally into a CEO’s working week, and should be a tool used to lead the company and to communication directly with the world at large.

Central to the article’s argument is the example of Jonathan I Schwartz, CEO of Sun Microsystems, who is praised for his use of blogging to promote Sun’s products, discuss industry trends, and engage with allies and adversaries.

Schwartz is quoted as saying: “My number one job is to be a communicator, I don’t understand how a CEO would not blog if committed to open communication.”

In his blog Micropersuasion, Steve Rubel, argues that it’s not enough to encourage CEOs to blog, but that “people blogging from within the gut” of the company to really demonstrate that their entire workforce is engaged in dialogue”.

While I fully agree that CEOs should consider blogging, and I agree with Steve that it’s not just about CEOs, there are a number of questions that should be considered before a CEO decides whether or not he or she should invest their time in a blog.

1. Who would the blog be for? Customers, suppliers, staff? Are these stakeholders likely to be interested in or have time to read a blog from the CEO?  
2. Does a CEO blog fit with the culture of the organisation? Blogging can be used to help cure organisations where there is a perceived lack of information (and mistrust that follows), but only where the CEO manages to keep an authentic blog.
3. Does it fit with the politics of the organisation? The last thing that is needed is a blog that is used as a weopon in the politics of an organisation.
4. What exactly will be gained by blogging?  Internal blogs can be used to mend unhealthy organisations, while external blogs can be used to engage with customers. However, sometimes, depending on the nature of an organisation, the opportunity cost of blogging may be too high, and the CEO’s time may be better spent doing something else.
5. What is the intensity of competitive rivalry of the market in which the organisation operates, and will a blog have a positive or negative on the position of the company in the market place?

Take a dash of American Idol, add a few drops of YouTube and MySpace, and what you get is something pretty close to the newly launched Karaoke site SingShot.

SingShot provides Karaoke tracks to many popular songs and allows you to record your own voice over the top of these tracks. It even provides the words (a la Karaoke). You can then share your recording with other people, either at SingShot or by pasting code into your own site (be it MySpace or your own web site). A very clever interface allows you to do all of this online, in real time.

The only real draw back is that many of the available songs are time-worn Karaoke favourites. You’ll be fine if you want to sing along to the Beatles or Tom Jones, but disappointed if you’re expecting the latest hits.

It’s free to create a profile and to rate other people’s efforts, but $59.40 per year if you want to record your own songs (this can be paid quarterly or monthly). When you first join there’s a two-week free trial period when you can record for free.