I’m holed up, with a to-do list the length of a football pitch, a load of writing to do (yes, real writing, not just powerpoint!) and a sprinkling of childcare thrown in. Just enough time then to find a bit of software to reduce some of the apps clogging up my hard drive by taking out the non-Intel code out and all the silly non-English language options.

Yes, thank you XSlimmer - which does just that, effortlessly and for about £8. That felt like a hugely productive hour and Firefox already feels that little bit more sprightly as a result.

Although, to be honest, I could have saved as much disk space just chucking out some of the crappy music I never listen to. But, we all know, you can’t actually throw out music, can you?

• FT.com | Tech Blog | More evidence points to Google’s faltering clicks
  The clicking habits of Google’s US users continue to cause concern.
  (tags: GOOGLE)
• Mark Porter » Blog Archive » Looking in the Mirror
  Shocking news: Britain’s red-top tabloids have discovered design!
  (tags: design newspapers)
• Sorrell says agencies must tackle content ownership - Brand Republic News - Brand Republic
  Sir Martin Sorrell has said in Italy this week that WPP and other agency groups must work harder to crack the key opportunity of owning and producing content and has suggested closer ties with Hollywood talent agencies.
  (tags: advertising wpp)

• Ofcom chief Ed Richards outlines possible BBC Trust reallocation role | Media | guardian.co.uk
  The BBC Trust may have a wider role to play in reallocating licence fee money to other content providers if this becomes the preferred option for protecting public service broadcasting, according to Ofcom chief Ed Richards.
  (tags: psb bbc)
• Q&A: Channel 4’s Matt Locke on cross-platform commissioning | Internet Marketing News and Blog | E-consultancy.com
  With more and more teenagers spurning traditional media, we asked the broadcaster’s commissioning editor Matt Locke about how it is planning to reach them through digital services.
  (tags: C4)
• Twitter Testing Advertising In Twitter Streams
  Occasional ads in the Twitter timeline, in a similar fashion to what Twitteriffic users currently see (Twitteriffic runs their own ads on the free version) seems like the only real way to monetize Twitter, aside for premium subscriptions.
  (tags: twitter)
• innovation playground Idris Mootee: Cubicles Are Anti-Collaboration And Is a Bad Social Design
  I think many of us has come to a point where technology is making us less productive. Think of how many emails coming in your mailbox and how often your browser distract at work. I think people were kind of feeling guilty 5-7 years back when they are brow
  (tags: innovation)
• Apture drags online news experience into the 21st century » VentureBeat
  Apture says it’s created the “next generation news experience”, one that you can try out starting today on the Washington Post’s blogs The Fix and Celebritology.
  (tags: mediafuture newsfuture newspapers)
• MediaShift . Gawking at Numbers::Why Paying People by Page Views is Wrong | PBS
  I believe that a blog with 50,000 loyal, repeat visitors is much more valuable to the publisher, advertisers — everyone on the business side — than a blog that has sensational posts that bring in 100,000 one-time visitors for entertainment snacks who
  (tags: metrics gawker)
• Is Search Recession-Proof? - Search Engine Watch
  While online advertising will probably suffer if there is a recession, I predict search will be the last place from which marketers pull their ad dollars. Why? Paid search is accountable, efficient, and built on a cost-controlled model, making it the most
  (tags: sem google)
• TJICistan » J K Rowling - greedy idiot
  You know what I really hate? When dozens or hundreds of people work hard to build a town, and then some - sniff! - mere cartographer - comes along and turns their work into a dot on a map.
  (tags: copyright)
• Virtual Economics: A cry for help
  I don’t know of a worse sign for an industry’s future than that it starts asking for government subsidies (Techdirt). But that’s apparently what Frank Blethen, president of the Seattle Times company, is proposing.
  (tags: newspapers)

• Newspapers Got 27 Percent Online Local Ad Rev in ‘07 [ClickZ Internet Marketing Solutions for Marketers]
  n preparation for its upcoming conference in D.C., the Newspaper Association of America requested some preliminary data from Borrell Associates’ local online revenue study, expected in May.
  (tags: newspapers local)

• blog.pmarca.com: Birth of Newspapers, part 1: The very first newspaper
  Over the course of the next several months, I will walk through many of the interesting aspects of the creation of several of today’s major forms of media — including newspapers, magazines, television, movies, and books.
  (tags: newspapers blogging)