In an interview with Washtenaw County Sheriff Deputy, Paul Mobbs said that blogs are replacing instant messaging. Paul gives briefings to parents about blogging, but does things differently; he doesn't warn parents about it, like all those other nut cases. Instead, he think that blogs are stemming off of IM:

I know fifth-graders who have blogs, sixth-graders, seventh-graders, eighth-graders, up all the way up through high school and college to adults. I personally believe it stems off instant messaging and is now the next level up.

I think it's interesting that fifth-graders actually have a blog and take it seriously. However, I don't think blogs are ready to replace IM, yet. Remember that less than five percent of the world is actually blogging, and not even half read a blog. Most people don't even know what a blog is. While the interview is a good look into child blogging, I think saying that IM is ready to go is a huge understatement.

MSN just released two new bots that users can chat with: one to answer questions from Microsoft Encarta encyclopedia, as well as BBC television listings. Those interested in chatting with the bots can add encarta@conversagent.com and bbcbackstage@hotmail.com to their contact lists. AOL recently added two bots to their IM program and people were peeved! MSN recently boosted the amount of contacts to 500.

Updated on 12/23/05: I just got an Email from Todd Biggs, a product manager at MSN explaining that MSN has added even more bots. Here's a list of them with details:

• ruud@radio538.nl: The 1st virtual DJ BOT from the Netherlands
• Spleak@hotmail.com: A very friendly chat BOT
• encarta@conversagent.com: A BOT that uses the Microsoft Encarta database to answer your questions and uses the activity window to provided you with more detailed rich content on the subject.
• smarterchild@hotmail.com: A classic and very comprehensive chat BOT.
• espbilly@msn.com: A quirky BOT that shows you videos, perhaps you'll see your future?
• yellowpagesdemo@hotmail.com: Yellow pages in IM. Find what you're looking for near you.
• msngiftguide@hotmail.com: Find the perfect holiday gift for that someone special.
• blabla@chatman.nl: A Dutch chat BOT.
• ibuddy077@lineage.co.kr: A BOT that talks about the Lineage game and has an interactive Activity.
• indeedjobs@hotmail.com: Find that job that you've been looking for.
• amazon@insidec.com: Shop online with Amazon

Millions of people use YouTube (Correction, "GoogTube") to watch thousands of videos online, but you might not know that YouTube might be watching you. After getting a subpoena in May, YouTube has been keeping tabs on users who are known to post copyrighted materials, and has even given a name to lawyers from a movie studio.

The studio turned out to be Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures and they went ahead and sued Chris Moukarbel, for copyright infringement, in federal court. Even though Chris broke the law, the point here is that YouTube gave user data without putting up a fight. Now you'll need to be careful when you post copyrighted material on the popular service because you won't receive YouTube's protection.

Lawyers defending the music industry use tatics such as warning users, and later suing them for piracy. And it now appears that others are using the same idea against YouTube users. This choice by YouTube goes against everything Google has fought for (Now that YouTube is owned by Google). Recently, the United States government sent a subpoena to numerous search services, such as Yahoo!, Microsoft and Google. While Yahoo! and Microsoft complied to hand over user information, Google fought back to defend user's rights to privacy. Google is now fighting the Brazilian and Indian governments over user privacy. MarketWatch expects that over 40 million of YouTube's users might now be in legal trouble after this latest example, but could this signal the end of video online?

Apple Computer has confirmed that they have accidentally shipped a small number of video iPods with the Windows trojan, RavMonE.exe. While only 1% of the units shipped after September 12 were affected, it should still raise concern. RavMonE.exe, a mass storage virus which only affects Windows, allows hackers to get into your computer after contacting remote servers to alert the attackers of infection. It goes under a few names, such as Win32.RJump.a and Troj/Bdoor-DIJ. Sophos, a security vendor, rates it as a low-grade infection and reports that most up-to-date antivirus programs should remove it. A statement on Apple's website now clarifies that the problem never affected iPod Nanos, Shuffles or Mac OS X. If you think you're infected and don't currently have any antivirus (Shame on you!), Windows Live OneCare Safety, which scans within your browser, will remove the trojan for free (Microsoft finally did something right...). Additionally, Apple noted that the virus will stay on the iPod, but the "restore" feature of iTunes should wipe your 'Pod free of the infection. So, Apple shipping Windows-only trojans - What's next?

Update: As InsideMicrosoft reports, Apple Computer is now blaming Microsoft for "not being more hardy against such viruses". This just keeps getting better and better!

Thousands of dollars are exchanged in virtual worlds and games, such as World of Warcraft and Second Life, and now the big question is whether it should be taxed. After launching a probe into many online games sporting virtual economies, the U.S. congressional committee is wondering if virtual assets and transactions should be taxed. Over $500,000 is exchanged in Linden Lab's Second Life game each day, and now the US government wants to get their share of the virtual economy bubble.

For now, the US government gets a slice of the pie from real-world earnings when you cash out of a game, but now they are considering taxing you on in-game profits as well. However, the details about this are a little sketchy. For instance, users of Second Life can make income based on investments made in-game, but it's unclear how you'll be taxed on it. Should you pay in Second Life's currency, Linden Dollars after selling property, even if you don't cash out using American currency? Personally, I think that doing this will cause a lot of problems. Not only is the currency problem a game-by-game issue (think about it, different games use different in-game currencies), but what about games being governed by real-world laws? Share your thoughts in the comments and don't forget to vote in our new poll, "Should Virtual Economies be Taxed?".