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Long-term readers will have noticed I've gone a bit quiet recently. There have been a number of reasons for this but one of the prime ones is my new business idea - HRPodcast launches today. It's a podcast. It's about HR (Human Resources).

Do have a look and let me know what you think.

OK, here's a case in which a new media company has completely misunderstood the planet on which it is based. Google (for it is they) want to stop people referring to 'googling' when they're just looking something up. They say it could be bad for their brand, according to the story you can reach through the link just there.

Hmm. That'll be why nobody's ever heard of Hoover, and people who think they have a Hoover very often have something made by someone else entirely but continue to project the Hoover name whenever they mention it. It's bad for branding in the same way that calling things the Rolls-Royce of their field is bad for the car company, getting them a mention even when their product is nowhere around.

Google apparently wants to stop this free. de facto marketing. Crazy.

The kerfuffle over Internet Service Providers being held liable for people pirating music is an entertaining bit of dirt - here's the latest - but if anyone wants to test it in the courts I'd be very surprised if they got anywhere.

Yes, an ISP's infrastructure allows someone to exchange copyright-protected files illegally, but then most of that network moves over BT's cabling in the UK. Is anyone asking BT to remove their cabling from the offenders' houses? I think not. And if the ISPs are responsible for someone downloading music they shouldn't then so, surely, is the manufacturer of the computer on which they're doing it. Plus the shop that sold it to them.

ISPs are a soft target but they're not responsible for someone pirating items using their systems. What'll be next, photocopier manufacturers sued for similar copyright breaches?