Actually, I really like that. Not sure I’m quite so convinced about the endless ‘Loading Data’ swooshes that crop up at every click on their new site. [via Nicola Davies]

I hope he won’t mind me spilling the contents of our super high-powered lunch out into the ether, but this cropped up over lunch with Andy Hart.

First question - what is it that the Chemical Brothers actually do when they’re playing live? I mean I think they’re fantastic, but you do wonder if they’ve actually just put a CD on in the background flicked the switch on the light show and they then just bounce up and down and twiddle a few knobs.

In which case - could I start a Chemical Brothers tribute band - called, I don’t know, The Comical Brothers or the Mock Rocking Beats and do exactly the same? In fact - why aren’t there any Chemical Brothers tribute bands? [well, none here, anyway]

Or this being the modern world, perhaps they could set up a franchise operation, where you get the CD, a QuickTime movie of the light show and a few tips on when’s the best time to raise your hands in the air and when to just nod your head holding onto your headphones.

In fact, they could be like Stomp or Cirque du Soleil and there would be dozens of authorised gangs of Chemical Brothers touring at any time.

And yes, now you mention it - I do quite fancy being a fake Chemical Brother as a second career. How hard can it be?

Which reminds me - a few years ago, I was in Skegness and there was a story in the local paper complaining that Skegness had sunk so low in the seaside resort ladder that the only person they could get to switch their Christmas lights on was Mr Blobby.

“Yes,” responded a councillor they asked for a quote, “but he’s the real Mr Blobby”.

• What’s This Fascination with Ad Networks? (Or, the Online Media Business Will Be About Brands First, Technology Second) - John Battelle’s Searchblog
  Do we sell inventory to the highest bidder via algorithms, automated processes, and platforms? Or do partner with marketers and creators of media to build brands - both media brands, and consumer marketing brands?
  (tags: advertising adnetworks)
• Micro Persuasion: Now Can We Please Kill the Phrase “Social Media”?
  So, now can we kill the phrase “social media?” It’s irrelevant. Another moot phrase is “the social web.” The web has always been social because that’s how people operate - as Chris Brogan notes. It’s just that the Internet can scale such social connection
  (tags: socialmedia)
• Ad networks: Inventory vs. the brand - mathewingram.com/media
  Maybe it’s just the spillover from the sub-prime mortgage meltdown, but in some cases packaging remnant inventory and selling it through an ad network reminds me of the Wall Street practice of bundling underperforming or questionable mortgages together,
  (tags: adnetworks)
• Brain Sells: Natural Born Clickers
  The click is dead…and the few people who do click on banner ads are not your best customers and do nothing for your brand.
  (tags: advertising)

So - for one reason or other, I’ve been having a look at some of the things that traditional businesses have said about their digital ambitions, and how they have - or haven’t - panned out.

This from an HMV digital launch in 2005 (.pdf here) is by no means the most preposterous - but you can sort of imagine how much they believed it when they wrote it; and just how completely misguided they were.

Any more examples gratefully received - unless they happen to be from any presentation I’ve given, in which case they were just a bit before their time .

For those who just can’t get enough TV news - thanks to Andrew Finlayson at Fox Chicago for sending over this rather neat thing they’ve set up: LiveNewsCameras.com.

Basically a rather fab aggregator of TV news feeds from around the world. Heavily skewed to all the local feeds from the US, but also a decent selection from the UK (well, BBC World and SkyNews) and they’re looking for more feeds if you’ve got one you want to put on there.

Not quite sure that every feed works all the time (and I suspect some might filter out international IPs) and I can’t quite get their moderator (a ‘best of stream’) to play. But I like the idea so much, I just have to plug it!