Nobody Will Read This

Tina Brown was once one of the most successful magazine editors alive. So it was a bit of a shock when the former New Yorker and Newsweek editor proclaimed that magazines, journalism and reading itself are all dying art forms. We are, she said, reverting back to an oral culture.

Not surprisingly, Brown's remarks generated many very literate responses. What do you think? The Los Angeles Times reports.

Questions...

•Is the Internet leading to the death of reading and writing, or is there more of it than ever before?

•How do people learn about and think about big issues in 2013?

•How do you read in different ways than your parents or grandparents?

•How do people debate issues on the Internet?

•Why do you think the Internet causes all this "death" talk?

Blowing Bubbles by the Bay

Fortunes are made and lost in Southern California's entertainment businesses. But for truly huge fortunes being made (and lost) overnight, head north to the Silicon Valley. Around 15 years ago, internet startups that were losing huge amounts of money were paradoxically becoming absurdly valuable in the stock market. Then the tech bubble burst and the more dubious companies (like pets.com) went out of business, while the successful ones (like Amazon) took years to regain their values in the stock market.

Is another tech bubble being blown right now? The Los Angeles Times reports.

Questions...

•Which do you think will have more users in three years, and why?
a. Snapchat
b. Instagram
c. Pinterest

•What other sites have you started using in the last year?

•What makes you stop using a website?

Parenting.com

Your Humble Blogger's Mom never had any words of advice about Facebook. Dear old Dad had nothing to say about Instagram. As a result, there was no parental wisdom about Internet usage passed down to YHB.

As a result, today's parents need to think for themselves about how to manage their children's online lives. And it's making the job of parenting more complex than it was not too many years ago. NPR reports.

Questions...

•What are your rules for parenting in the Internet age?

•At what age should a child be allowed to have a smart phone?

•At what age should a child be allowed to surf the web unsupervised?

•Should schools get involved with cyberbullying and other Internet issues? To what degree?

Is London the New Hollywood?

Begin with a long tradition of movie making. Add in a generous amount of both acting and technical talent. Throw in some nicely-targeted tax incentives. And the result is a booming British movie industry that has drawn a wide array of American film productions. The Los Angeles Times reports.

Questions...

•Does this matter to you if you are not in "The Industry"? Why or why not?

•Are movie industry jobs particularly good jobs? Why?

•What are some of the other businesses that moviemakers need? What kinds of workers do these support companies employ?

•Why don't studios simply make movies in the cheapest place in the world?