Here’s what came up this morning for me:

Umm, guys………

For the most part this is a reflection of the fact that my followers are rather ideologically diverse. Still, though, I’m surprised the universe didn’t explode when the algorithm spit out Beck and Olbermann.

If you want to follow me on Twitter, by the way, please feel free.

• Donny Deutsch Off The Air On MSNBC After Telling The Truth About Keith Olbermann
• Republican Congressman & Glenn Beck: Setting Health Care Vote On Sunday An “Affront To God”
• Republican Congressman & Glenn Beck: Setting Health Care Vote On Sunday An “Affront To God”
• Glenn Beck Mocks Malia Obama’s Intelligence
• Texas Republican Calls Obama “God’s Punishment” On America

H/T: United Liberty

• Is Conservatism Dead ?
• Is Conservatism Dead ?
• The Future: Bring It On
• The Future: Bring It On
• The Man From Plains, GA

Justice Scalia: “I don’t know even what it is . . . I’ve heard it talked about”

Justice Breyer: “remember when they had that disturbance in Iran . . . there were some Twitters as I call them . . . but there were people there with photos as it went on . . . it’s instant and people react instantly . . . it’s not something that’s going to go away”

Well, at least they didn’t call it a series of tubes.

• Just(ice) Desserts
• Just(ice) Desserts
• Justice Sotomayor To Throw Out First Pitch At Yankee Stadium
• Justice Sotomayor To Throw Out First Pitch At Yankee Stadium
• A Supreme Smear

This video explains everything you need to know about them, and how to change the privacy settings on your account if you want to:

H/T: HuffPo

• All Your Facebook Belongs To Us
• All Your Facebook Belongs To Us
• Facebook Responds To The TOS Uproar
• Facebook Responds To The TOS Uproar
• Facebook: The Hotel California Of The Internet

Sean, if you were so outraged, why have the guy on the air to begin with ?

• Rand Paul Does The Morning Show Victory Lap
• Fox News Ratings Up Since Obama Administration Picked A Fight
• Fox News Ratings Up Since Obama Administration Picked A Fight
• Obama White House Going To War Against Fox News
• Obama White House Going To War Against Fox News

Watch CBS News Videos Online

H/T: Melissa Clouthier

• Ron Paul: I Probably Won’t Run For President In 2012
• Ron Paul: I Probably Won’t Run For President In 2012
• Ron Paul Talks About His Support Of Michael Steele
• The Tiger Woods Commercial I’d Like To See
• The Tiger Woods Commercial I’d Like To See

Verizon is taking the first steps toward what is likely to be the end of printed phone directories:

The residential White Pages, those inches-thick tomes of fine-print telephone listings that may be most useful as doorstops, could stop landing with a thud on doorsteps across New York later this year.

Verizon, the dominant local phone company in the state, asked regulators on Friday to allow it to end the annual delivery of millions of White Pages to all of its customers in New York. The company estimates that it would save nearly 5,000 tons of paper by ending the automatic distribution of the books.

Only about one of every nine households uses the hard-copy listings anymore, according to Verizon, which cited a 2008 Gallup survey. Most have switched to looking up numbers online or calling directory assistance. The phone book for many people, it seems, has gone from indispensable tool to unavoidable nuisance.

“Phone books have been a very visceral issue,” said Scott Cassel, executive director of the Product Stewardship Institute, an environmental group in Boston. “They do tend to pile up, particularly in apartments. More and more, people are finding that they don’t need them, but they can’t find a way to make them stop.”

When residential directories were delivered this year to the Ivy Tower, an apartment building on West 43rd Street in Manhattan, Ramon Almanzar, a concierge, kept 28 copies in case residents wanted them. Not a single occupant of the 320-unit building claimed one, Mr. Almanzar said.

“We end up throwing them away,” he said, as he greeted residents and opened a glass door. “Everyone goes online anyways.”

Customers who prefer to look up phone numbers the old-fashioned way or, like Steve Martin’s character in “The Jerk,” get a thrill from seeing their names in print, would still be able to have the White Pages delivered to them in book form or on compact disc.

Verizon hopes that regulators will waive the requirement that it deliver White Pages to all New Yorkers before the end of the year, said John Bonomo, a company spokesman. He said he did not know how many copies of the White Pages were distributed annually, but said the total was in the millions in New York City alone.

I can’t remember the last time I actually used a phone book, and I can’t say I’d miss having to figure out how to dispose of them the day after they’re delivered.

• The Death Of The Phone Book
• The Death Of The Phone Book
• Verizon Moving Away From Landline Phones
• Verizon Moving Away From Landline Phones
• An Amazon-Borders Merger ?

1. It’s fair use! The parodies, which transform a few minutes of a three-hour movie, are clearly legit under existing copyright laws. Because they clearly transform the original and have no possibility of confusing viewers, the parodies are clearly protected speech.

2. This is free promotion! As George Lucas could tell the filmmakers, fan-generated videos help keep the original source material vital and relevant. Lucas used to try to police all Star Wars knock-offs, until he realized that his audience was promoting his films more effectively than he ever could. More people have surely seen Downfall due to the popularity of the parodies.

3. Let’s keep the Internet creative! The greatest cultural development over the past 20 or so years has been technologies that allow producers and consumers to create and enjoy an ever-increasing array of creative expression in an ever-increasing array of circumstances. This development is nowhere more powerful than on the Internet, which has unleashed a whole new universe of writing, music, video, and more. Indeed, YouTube is itself one of the great conduits of cyberspace. Pulling down the Downfall parodies may be within YouTube’s rights, but it nonetheless strikes a blow to the heart of what is totally awesome about the Internet.

• Hitler Parodies Removed From YouTube Based On Ridiculous Copyright Claims
• New Hitler Parody Parodies Studio DMCA Takedown Notices
• New Hitler Parody Parodies Studio DMCA Takedown Notices
• More Star Wars Movies ?
• More Star Wars Movies ?

In one month, Apple says it has sold one million iPads:

CUPERTINO, California—May 3, 2010—Apple® today announced that it sold its one millionth iPad™ on Friday, just 28 days after its introduction on April 3. iPad users have already downloaded over 12 million apps from the App Store and over 1.5 million ebooks from the new iBookstore.

“One million iPads in 28 days—that’s less than half of the 74 days it took to achieve this milestone with iPhone,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Demand continues to exceed supply and we’re working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more customers

Pretty amazing.

• It’s iPad Day, Otherwise Known As “Free Media For Steve Jobs” Day
• It’s iPad Day, Otherwise Known As “Free Media For Steve Jobs” Day
• IPod Nation
• IPod Nation
• iTunes: Over 2 Billion Served

Yesterday, Sony announced that it would stop selling the 3.5 inch floppy disk in Japan:

Sony announced on April 23rd that they will be discontinuing sales of the classic 3.5 inch floppy disk in Japan in 2011. The news marks a major end to a nearly three decade history of the disk type that the company helped to pioneer.

According to Sony, they introduced the 3.5 inch floppy disk size to the world in 1981, and began sales within Japan in 1983. Sony had shipped approximately 47 million disks within the country at its peak around the year 2000, but that number had fallen to around 8.5 million by 2009, Sankei News reported.

In 2008 Sony accounted for around 40% of the world’s market share in 3.5 inch floppy disks, Nikkei wrote; within Japan, Sony has held about 70% of the market share in recent years, the Asahi added.

(…)

Lack of demand was stated as the major reason for the decision, with many pointing to the rapid expansion of other media saving methods, such as CDs, DVDs, and USB drives, as well as a significant decrease in floppy disk-supporting hardware.

You can still buy 3.5 inch floppies in stores here in the United States, but if you have a newer computer, you’ve got no use for them — the PC I got from Dell last year has no 3.5 inch drive at all, for example.

This is only the latest demise in the long history of the floppy disk. The 8-inch disk, introduced in 1967, began to be phased out in 1976 when the 5 1/4 inch drive was invented, and the 5 1/4 inch drive had been supplanted by its 3.5 inch cousin by the late 1980s. With CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, and thumb drives, t was only a matter of time before the 3.5 inch drive went the way of it’s predecessors.

The Floppy is dead.

• Digital Music Sales Continue To Rise, Physical Sales Continue To Fall
• Digital Music Sales Continue To Rise, Physical Sales Continue To Fall
• Starbucks Profit Drops Nearly 100%
• Starbucks Profit Drops Nearly 100%
• Supply And Demand Works, New York Times Shocked