Via Slashdot, I have learned this morning that the FBI raided the data centre of Core IP in Dallas. Rumours abound as to why, but that is not so important. Far more important is how.

Ego surfing is a slang term for looking yourself up on a search engine (usually Google these days, but the term goes back much farther than Google’s dominance of the search market). It used to be looked at as something you would do to stroke your ego, to see what that you have said has made its way into the web for the world to see how great you are. In short, it was viewed as narcissistic.

A colleague of mine who had shared my sense about iPhones, but who has an even more insatiable curiosity than mine, has figured out the iPhone phenomenon. It is about cheap access to the Internet. Apparently, it can be more cost effective, and, in many cases, “good enough” access to the Internet than some other broadband options, plus you can make phone calls.

Q. Why do you buy or rent a DVD?

SF Gate has a story about Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who have started imposing usage caps on what was previously “unlimited” internet service. I find this trend to be troubling.