digg_url = 'http://digg.com/programming/The_Future_of_Software_Development';digg_bgcolor = '#ffffff';digg_skin = 'compact';In 1975, Frederick Brooks wrote a classic book on software project management calledThe Mythical Man-Month.In the book, he famously argued that adding more people to a development project will hinder rather than help to get things done faster.The reason is that having more people working on the project introduces a non-linear overhead in communication.Five years before Brooks' book, a software development methodology called the Waterfall Modelwas coined.This approach applied the insights from mature engineering disciplines (mechanical, civil, etc.) to software.The idea was to construct systems by first gathering requirements, then doing the design, then implementing it,then testing, and finally getting it out the door in one linear sequence.We have come a long way since then and learned a lot about making software. The Waterfall Model is now considered a flawed method because it is so rigid and unrealistic. In the real world, software projects have ill-defined and constantly evolvingrequirements, making it impossible to think everything through at once. Instead, the best software today is created and evolved using agilemethods. These techniques allow engineers to continuously re-align software with business and customer needs.With the advent of modern programminglanguages (Java, PHP, Python and Ruby), rich libraries, and unprecedented infrastructure services like those from Amazon, we are arrivingat yet another evolutionary step. Digg, del.icio.us, YouTube and other poster children of the new web era were developed by just a handfulof programmers. To build software today all you need is a few good men (or women!). In this post we trace how we got hereand where we are heading next.Why The Waterfall Model FailedNon-technical people tend to think that software is softor easily changeable.Since there are no visible nuts and bolts and no hood to open people think that software can be tweaked and re-wired on a whim.Of course, this is not the case. Software, like any mechanical system, has a design and the structure; it is not as soft as it seems.Yet the accelerating pace of business requires constant changes to software. Older development methods completely failto address business needs. Using the Waterfall Model, these changes were impossible, the development cycle was too long, systems wereover engineered and ended up costing a fortune, and often did not work right.The problem was that the Waterfall Model wasarrogant. The arrogance came from the fact that we believed that we could always engineer the perfect system on the first try.The second problem with it was that in nature, dynamic systems are not engineered, they evolve. It is the evolutionary idea that lead to the development of agile methods.Agile Methods - Evolving SoftwareIn the early nineties a number of agile software development methodsemerged. While they differed in details, they agreed at large that software development needed a major rethinking. First, software has to embrace change.Today's assumptions and requirements may change tomorrow, and software needs to respond to changes quickly.To meet the challenge, agile approaches advocate focusing on simplicity. Make the simplest possible systemthat satisfies today's requirements and when tomorrow comes, be ready to adapt.Two techniques pioneered by agile methods are worth particular attention - refactoring and developer testing.Refactoring, elegantly described by Martin Fowler in his classic bookis the idea of improving the design of the existing code without changing how it works.Refactoring is what allows agile systems to embrace change, while remaining elegant and free from rot.Like an interior decorator continuously changes and improves the layout of your furniture, agile developers move code around to improve the product as a whole. Code is constantly changed to make sure we end up with the simplest, and best possible system that reflects our current needs.To make sure that changes do not break the code, agile methods introduced unit tests. As each agile projectunfolds, it grows the base of unit tests. Each test is focused on a single component of the system and acts asan insurance that the component works as expected. Typically, the tests are run continuously against the codeand require immediate fixes in case of a failure.The software systems created using agile methods are much more successful because they are evolved and adapted to the problem.Like living organisms, these systems are continuously reshaped to fit the dynamic landscape of changing requirements. Withouta doubt, agile methods made a major impact on how we think about building software today - dynamically and continuously.It's The Libraries, Stupid!While we discovered better way of making software, we also discovered better programming languages.C was replaced with C++, then came Java. Perl was great, but PHP and Python took its lessons further.More recently came Ruby, which has become very popular because of its natural way of expressing code. Because of this evolution,today we have a number of excellent, and virtually equivalent programming languages.While the choice of programming language is typically a sensitive subject, the truth is that it is not the language,but the libraries that come with it that make a difference. C++ never had the standard libraries that Java has. Yes, Javais the simpler language, but people used C++ for a decade just fine. What gives Java the edge is its rich set of reusablelibraries. The story is similar with PHP. It has been the language of choice for web developers precisely because it comes withsuch rich support for web and database processing.In addition to the libraries that come with modern languages, the open source movement has alsocontributed a wealth of code towards global software infrastructure. Notably, just the Apache foundation on its own hascreated a huge amount of high quality reusable code. We have now arrived at an age where we have a strong foundationfor building complex software systems. We know the methods and we have the tools, so what does that mean?The Future of Software Development: Just a Few Good MenSince early days of software development people struggled to build good systems. More and more peoplewhere thrown at the problem, making matters worse. But with the recent explosion of social web we've witnessed a new and interestingphenomenon: a handful of developers are now able to build systems that are used by millions of people. How can this be?The secret is that as with any good endeavor it only takes a few good men (and/or women!). With a bit of discipline and a ton of passion, high quality engineers are able to put together systems of great complexity on their own.Equipped with a modern programming language, great libraries, and agile methods, a couple of smart guys in the garage can get things done much better andfaster than an army of mediocre developers.We are likely to see a few changes over the coming years:High-quality, passionate software engineers will be in very high demand and will make substantially more money.The developers who do not have great programming skills are going to have to look for jobs elsewhere.The changes that we are witnessing today in the social software market are going to reach the enterprise level.Software off shoring will make less and less economical sense.Computer science is going to remain a highly competitive and prestigious field.ConclusionIronically, we are coming full circle with the mythical man-month. What was true twenty years ago is true of course today,but for a whole new set of reasons. An awesome array of programming languages and infrastructure libraries combined withagile methods has allowed us to break free of old software development dogmas. Just a handful of great engineers can now successfullybuild systems of great complexity. Craftsmanship has finally come to software engineering!

  Another year, another iteration of Napster. The pioneering file sharing program that has existed the past couple of years as a music subscription service will relaunch with a web-based client, according to our network blog last100:"In yet another attempt to return to glory, Napster will rely less on its desktop client in favor of a Web-based approach as it hopes to attract more paying subscribers.Napster seeks to make its platform more flexible and compatible with any Internet-enabled device with the release of Version 4.0. The move will allow Napster’s 770,000 subscribers to play their music from any computer without having to download additional software. Before today, Napster subscribers could only listen to their music after downloading the desktop client to their personal computers, although the Napster software is still required to transfer music from the service to compatible devices."Napster COO Chris Allen said during a press conference that he expects the music industry to be free of DRM by the end of next year. That's an odd thing for Allen to say given that Napster runs a subscription service that relies on DRM to work. If Napster is really getting ready for a DRM-free world, they will have to change their business model. For more, check out the post at last100.

  One of the knocks on Yahoo! has long been that although it has a fairly large second place stake in the search market, it has never been able to monetize search effectively. A new study from SearchIgniteand RBC Capital Markets indicates that Yahoo! is making progress on rectifying that, however.According to the study, even though Google's share of impressions rose dramatically between August and September, and Yahoo!'s fell at about the same clip, Yahoo! beat Google on eCPM for the first time since February. Google's eCPM was down due to falling click-through rates, while Yahoo!'s was up due to higher CPC figures -- Yahoo!'s CTR has stayed more or less the same since May. Is this the much vaunted Panama advertising platform finally paying off?Yahoo! saw the percentage of the total ad spend on its search properties raise in July and August and fall in September, Google saw an opposite trend -- ad spending fell over the summer and jumped in September. The spending trends appeared to coincide with the back-to-school bump in search volume and paid search impressions that Google felt, which resulted in a near equal but opposite dip in search market share for Yahoo!. In the third quarter as a whole, however, overall spending increased 7.8% over the previous quarter for Yahoo!, while Google saw an increase of just 0.8% for the same period.In July we took a look at Yahoo!'s Panama initiative 6 months in, and found no real concrete evidence to make a determination about whether it was or wasn't working. One study we looked at in that post noted that campaign conversion was actually down since the launch of Panama. Regardless, advertisers spent more per click for the same CTR this summer on Yahoo! search ads. Could that suggest improved conversion rates from Yahoo! ads?Modest gains aside, Yahoo! still has a long way to go to catch Google. The latest comScore numbershave Yahoo! still well behind Google in terms of market share, and as the chart above shows, in spite of spending gains, Yahoo! still has a long uphill battle to catch Google. But that Yahoo! is beginning to see more dollars being spent on their search ads is a good sign for the company. My rudimentary knowledge of search marketing suggests to me that gains in eCPM based on higher CTRs would be better than gains based on higher CPCs, but that advertisers are will to spend more per click is good news for Yahoo!.Via GigaOm.

  The BBC has announced a dealwith Wi-Fi hotspot vendor The Cloud to offer free public access to the BBC website and media player at thousands of London locations. The Cloud operates at 7,500 McDonald's, coffee shops and airports around the UK. The companies said in their release today that they expect to offer mobile access soon, as well. See also our coverage yesterday of the new BBC iPlayer. It's a fascinating deal that I feel very ambivalent about. I can't help but wonder - is this the future of the web? Sponsored access to a walled garden of content seems legitimate, perhaps even a good idea, but it also raises questions of the commercialization of public discourse and Net Neutrality. (Update: Resident smart guy Steve O'Hearpoints me to PaidContent coverageindicating that the BBC is in fact not paying The Cloud in the deal, The Cloud is seeing this as a promotion to drive paid customers. Fair enough.)I suppose if you want to access the whole world of interlinked content online, with diverse points of view and interactive communication - then you can just pay for it. Nothing new there, but there's something about a sponsored and very limited web that I feel wary about. How long until US web users can go online for free, as long as it's Fox News they're watching?Do our UK readers have any thoughts on this from the particular perspective of the BBC as a more-or-less public utility?

  Last week Read/WriteWeb editor Richard MacManus interviewed Satish Dharmaraj, Zimbra co-founder and CEO. The result is a 30 minute podcast available on Read/WriteTalk(transcript included). The following post is highlights from the discussion, which focused on Zimbra's journey from October 2005 Web 2.0 Conference launch to September 2007 acquisition by Yahoo! for $350M.In September 2007 Web Office startup Zimbra was acquired by Yahoo!for $350M. As I noted at the time, it seems like only yesterday that Zimbra was the buzz of the 2005 Web Conference (which incidentally was the first Silicon Valley conference I attended). Yet in just under 2 years from launching, Zimbra went from Web Office poster child (one of them at any rate) to a company worth $350 million. How did it happen? What lessons can aspiring entrepreneurs learn from Zimbra, as they attempt to create a multi-million dollar business too? For me there was only one way to find out: interview Satish Dharmaraj, Zimbra co-founder and CEO.The entire interview is up on our podcast show, Read/WriteWeb. Here are some of my favorite bits:Question: who came up with the idea for Zimbra and when did that happen?Satish: "While we were brainstorming on ideas - and we cycled through a lot of them - we always kept coming back to: What are the big things that people do on a computer? Well, they search and they web browse and they read email. We started believing that people spend more time on email than search or web browsing, and so we said, 'Man, that's huge.' It seems so evident but that was basically the genesis. Well Google is tackling search and, obviously, Firefox and IE are tackling the web browsing issue, and then we have Outlook or Thunderbird or Entourage for email. Well, that seems really broken. [...]Then at the same time, we were thinking about technologies and how the web browser is becoming the predominant platform of modern day computing. Do we really need to have a desktop app and can we do everything on the server side? That's something to break into."Question: [...] What was the initial reaction to the product when you launched in October of 2005?Satish: "Peoples reactions to it was unanimously: 'I can't believe this is a web browser. I can't believe that this can be done all inside of Ajax and all with a server that's not hosted or with data that resided remotely.' Our goal was to basically blow the pants away of Outlook or any other client in terms of user interactivity, even though it was inside of a web browser. I think when we launched, we successfully got that kind of a reaction from people who were just totally wowed with it. They were all extremely excited that somebody was putting up such a huge and competitive product in the mail landscape which people had thought had been written off.Then, for us, we knew in our hearts, and we didn't want to be a web 2.0 company that's just all hype and glam. We knew that we had planned all of this carefully with our board. We had always wanted to start making money. It has happened. As soon as we launched in October, back before we started making money, before we sold to Yahoo, we were handsomely cash flow positive. So we're always proud of what we went through as a company: got a lot of bugs, got a great product but at the end of the day, we were making money. That was basically the difference that set us apart."Question: One thing that web 2.0 critics often derive about the current generation of web apps is that they are features and not businesses. Also, the web 2.0 startups have too large a reliance on M&A as the end goal. This is something we constantly hear from critics of web 2.0. Zimbra was obviously a very successful buyout. Was that your plan from the start or did you start out with the aim of being a viable standalone business? Back in October of 2005, what was your end goal for Zimbra at that point?Satish: "Honestly, I can say this. We set out to build a great company with a real business behind it. That's what I think people should do when they start a business. They [have] got to think about: How do I make this an independently successful cash flow self-sustaining business? Then, there'll be very interesting M&A opportunities that will come and knock on the door. If instead we started a company thinking that there is going to be a quick flip, [in] 90% of the cases that does not work out because no one is interested in buying - or they want to buy you off really cheap. We were not thinking of an ideal nor were we thinking of an M&A. We were just thinking: Let's go and create a compelling product and create some real business in specific markets. That's what we started out to do and that's what we did."Listen to the full podcastfor more insight into the growth of Zimbra and some of the tactics they employed to build their ultimately successful web 2.0 business.

  Vimeo, one of the classiest players in the online video world, is now offering High Definition transcodingfor user uploaded video. At 4 times the industry standard bitrate, the new videos look really nice. Unfortunately, the HD quality videos can only be viewed on the Vimeo site and cannot be embedded in HD elsewhere. I hope that will change.Owned by IAC, Vimeo can afford the extra costs incurred and its community of artists is sure to appreciate the option. The new service will presumably pay for itself as an increasingly competitive high-end video ad unit, something Vimeo has been put to use for in some cases already. It also appears that the HD vids are being sponsored at launch.The new Vimeo videos look great full-screen and the ability for viewers to toggle between HD and standard resolution depending on their bandwidth is a very nice touch.The other online video service that's worked hardest on its encoding quality is probably Brightcove- but its usability is challenging enough and its business strategy confused enough that there's likely little overlap between Vimeo users and the Brightcove community.I heard about the Vimeo HD first via Scott Beale's Laughing Squid blog, a great place to learn about all thing artistic and online. For more on Vimeo see also CenterNetwork's in-depth comparative reviewof Vimeo and competitor Viddlerlast week. Viddler has offered HD for some time but is earlier in the development of its community.

  It's been a very busy Monday on Read/WriteWeb - so here's a recap of the day's posts, plus Network highlights:Top News- Attention - NewsGator and Bloglines Join APML Workgroup(Marshall)- Discovery Purchasing HowStuffWorks for $250 Million(Josh)- AdBrite: Full Page "Skip This Ad" Units Now Available for Everyone(Marshall)- On Copyright: YouTube Punts(Marshall); related: YouTube’s new video identification system places burden on copyright holders(last100)- Adobe Partners with BBC on Streaming Video(Josh); related: BBC partners with Adobe to add iPlayer streaming option; Mac and Linux will be supported(last100)- HypeMachine Readies a Relaunch of Its Popular MP3 Service(Marshall)- Pew: Most Kids Online Not Threatened by Strangers(Marshall)Blog Action Day- The Top 35 Environmental Blogs(Josh)- BadBuster Helps You Identify the Greenest Companies(Josh)- Five environmental Internet TV offerings(last100)Mobile 2.0Richard was at he Mobile 2.0 event today in San Francisco. Here are his posts:- Mobile 2.0 - The 7th Mass Media &Business Opportunities- Mobile 2.0 Launch Pad Part 1- Mobile 2.0 Launch Pad Part 2- Taptu Launches New Type of Mobile SearchAltSearchEngines is also on the conference circuit this week - ASE editor Charles Knight is in NYC for the Search Marketing Expo- SMX.

  The MP3 blog aggregator HypeMachineis set to relaunch with a whole new website once 10,000 people have the site's splash page open simultaneously. When they reach that number, I expect the relaunch to be very well received. At "press/blog time" there are just over 3,000 people waiting, but major music sites will likely cover it soon and put that number over the edge. (Update: It appears the new site has launched.)A new design, lots of smart social networking features and a DRM-free emphasis are the key points of the relaunch. Details and screen shots below.HypeMachine was launched in 2005 by Anthony Volodkin but gained increased visibility in the Web 2.0 world when it won best in show at the third annual Mashup Campand has since expanded its team. The site tracks and makes available music posted on MP3 music review blogs all around the web. It's always been a great site but the new HypeMachine is better than ever. If you're new to the world of MP3 blogs, or tired of waiting for HypeM to relaunch, check out Elbo.ws(correction: Elbo.ws is an aggregator as well, see comments section) and Aurgasm.us, two popular MP3 blogs that feed HypeMachine.The new site is beautifully redesigned by new addition to the team Taylor McKnight, a former Gawker artist and co-founder of the eye-catching video aggregator Chime.tv.Users can now create profile pages with lots of information about themselves, including their favorite songs, bands, searches, blogs and other users. The social networking component is very nicely put together and includes acronym-free tracking of the RSS feeds of your friends' favorites, your favorited blogs and new results in persistent searches.Search results pages highlight buying options via DRM free music stores above all else. Video results are available in the very nice Chime.tv player (see screenshot below).There's very handy Twitter integration, you can tell HypeM to send a tweet any time you favorite a new song, blog or search. I've been doing this manually for awhile when wanting to share music with friends.There's no longer a Flash pop-up player, which is a shame, but you can still play all the songs on a page continuously and if you want to change pages without the music stopping you can just open links in a new tab.In total, I think it's a very nice relaunch and I expect to use the service more now than ever before. As soon as 10,000 people amass, we should be able to see how well it scales and leverages the network effects of a mass user-base. Hype Machineis certainly a widely loved service, I expect that will only grow to bemore the case in the future.

  Today we're a participant in Blog Action Day, a collaborative blogging event in which over 16,000 blogs across the web have marked off a single day to blog about the environment as it relates to their particular niche. In our case, that means web technology, and we've already published our list of the top 35 environmental blogs. That's why it was very apropos of a new web site called BadBusterto email us today about their product.BadBuster is an online search engine of companies and products that displays information to consumers about whether those companies are environmentally friendly. BadBuster aggregates information on companies from a good number of publicly available databases of environmental ratings, including the Carbon Disclosure Project, Calvert Online, Knowmore.org, and ClimateCounts(who we wrote about in July). BadBuster then condenses the numbers from those sources into a single score for each company.BadBuster has also released a browser plugin that underlines any company name it finds on the web and pops up a condensed report on that company on mouseover. I mentioned that BadBuster also rates products, and as you can see in the screenshot below, the word "Ford Focus" is also underlined. However, to be precise, the site doesn't actually rate individual products, but rather associates each product with the company that makes it and shows that company's report. That the color of the underline correlates to the company's overall score is a nice touch -- green is good, yellow is not so good, and red is bad.Unfortunately, the plugin only works for Internet Explorer 6 and 7 on Windows XP or Vista. BadBuster plans a Firefox version by the end of the year and other browsers in the beginning of 2008. No word on if other operating systems will get any love.The site does have some issues. For example, if you search for "Ford" or "Google" and press enter, you won't find a listing. Instead, what you need to do is wait for the drop down selection box to appear as you type and choose the company you're looking for. It's a small issue, but they shouldn't call it a search if it doesn't behave the way we expect a search box to behave. Another issue is that the browser plugin doesn't understand context -- it just underlines any keyword it finds. For example, it underlined the word "carefree" in a document I was reading because Carefree is a brand of gum it told me is made by Johnson &Johnson (though actually, I think Hersey Foods makes it). This is something that BadBuster is aware of and says it will work on over time.

  As noted last week, a group of startups promoting themselves at Mobile 2.0. Part 1was in the morning. Here now is the afternoon session (note it was just 5 minutes per speaker, so we only got brief overviews of each service). Webwag MobileWe've writtenbefore about Webwag, a personalized start page. Webwag Mobileis a Java app. It looks very much like a desktop widget service (like Yahoo! Widgets). Certainly looked slick and the ability to sync with the Internet version is useful for heavy Mobile Web users. The TomSoft blog has more detailsof Webwag Mobile.RuleSpaceRuleSpaceisn't a startup, it's an 11-year company. It calls itself a "content categorization" company, which analyzes what users are looking at. In the mobile space, it does parental controls applications. It's also being used in mobile search solutions, and has anti-spam and recomendations technologies. It is heading into even more granularity, which has applications in mobile advertising.kyteKyteenables you to create an interactive TV channel on your website, blog, social network or mobile phone. It has a Facebook app too. kyte really shows off the creative and collaborative nature of modern Mobile Web apps.Photo by Rudy de WaeleEx MachinaEx Machinais a social gaming company, that has a gaming platform for Web, mobile and TV. The example showed today was PopKids, described as "Tamagotchi meets American Idol". Essentially you raise a (virtual) child and hope it becomes a top American Idol singer. It takes 18 days for the 'child' to grow to 18 years in the game. You need a partner to have a kid and raise it, then you need to provide guidance to the child. This encourages social interaction in the game. The game is a mobile app, but it is going to be developed for TV too. It all sounds a bit strange to me, but then I'm not the target audience - so it'll be interesting to see if the PopKids game catches on.Photo by Rudy de Waele

  The BBC's much-malignediPlayeronline video player will be getting a companion streaming version later this year. Through a partnership announced this afternoon with Adobe, the BBC will begin offering streamed versions of its television programming via an online version of the iPlayer delivered in Flash format.The BBC already uses Adobe's Premiere Pro and Production Premium as its desktop creative suite, so it will now be employing and end-to-end Adobe-powered solution for the creation and delivery of its online video content. I spoke to Mark Randall, the Chief Strategist for Adobe's Dynamic Media Organization, who told me that the company was excited to be partnering the world's largest content producer (the BBC creates over 14 terabytes of digital content per week), and that he thought this would be an excellent showcase of Adobe's end-to-end capabilities for digital media producers.The choice of Adobe's Flash technology makes sense. According to Adobe, Flash is deployed on over 99% of Internet-connected computers and the latest version of the Flash player supports the H.264 codec. Further, the 1.0 release of AIR should also incorporate Flash's HD video capabilities, so should the BBC wish to bring Flash video to the offline version of their iPlayer, Adobe's runtime will support 1080p. I was told that the BBC will be evaluating the possibility of using Adobe's Media Playerin the future.iPlayer allows residents of the UK to watch the past 7 days of BBC television programming on their computers and store it for up to 30 days. For more analysis, check out the post at our network blog Last100.

  digg_url = 'http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/on_copyright_youtube_punts.php';digg_bgcolor = '#ffffff';digg_skin = 'compact';After more than a year of back and forth, YouTube has rolled out an official video filtering toolto protect the copyright of content owners unhappy that their content has been uploaded to the site. It's hard not to want to hold your breath now that it's finally here - it couldn't possibly be this simple, could it?It can't - YouTube has chosen to follow the letter of the DMCA law only; today's announcement will not come close to satisfying angry rights holders. It may or may not be enough to protect them in court.Here's how it will work. Offending content will have to be identified by rights holders, either by uploading it themselves or identifying it when someone else has without permission. YouTube will then create a hash file to make sure that that exact same fileis not uploaded again. That's the crux of the issue right there. The big rights holders want YouTube to block every instance of their song or video content being uploaded, whether it's the identical file or not.It's opt-in copyright protection by blocking repeat upload of the same exact media file. That's nowhere near what the big rights holders want. What they really want may be to kick the legs out from under the media record-breaker that is GooTube.The new service will only block content if blocking the content is what rights holders want, of course. YouTube says it can't assume it knows. Some may want to promote that content once it's discovered, or to monetize it with revenue sharing of ad money. That seems possible, in theory, though the real impetus behind this whole system is to pull content.If this is the kind of thing you're interested in, the video identification pageis an interesting read. A year ago it looked like YouTube was going to license a third party filtering service, like Audible Magic, but all the options there may have proven technically imperfect. Perhaps unable to nail the problem technically, it appears that Google has chosen to take a legalistic approach to the problem.

  digg_url = 'http://digg.com/environment/The_Top_35_Environmental_Blogs';digg_bgcolor = '#ffffff';digg_skin = 'compact';There are hundreds, if not thousands, of blogs dedicated to the environment on the Internet. That's really no surprise given that environmental conservation is one of the most pressing issues of our time, and has become especially pertinent in recent years due to concerns about global warming and mega-hit documentaries like Former US Vice President Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth.As part of our participation in Blog Action Day, we waded through much of the environmental blogosphere and picked out our favorites (caveat: not all of these are blogs in the strictest sense of the word, but those that aren't are generally still long-tail environmentally focused content sites). It's very likely that we've left a few of your favorites off the list, so please feel free to leave them in the comments below. Presented in no particular order:TreeHugger- TreeHugger is the mother of all environmental blogs, ranking #17 on Technorati's top blogs list (which makes it at least one of the most referenced enviroblogs). It covers general environmental news, events and products.EcoGeek- Geek chic environmental is a good way to describe EcoGeek, which writes about gadgets that are earth friendly.Environmental Law Prof Blog- From the always-good Law Professor Blog Network, this one deals with pressing concerns surrounding the issue of environmental law.New Scientist Environment Blog- Excellent environmental commentary and analysis from New Scientist magazine.AutoblogGreen- A spin-off from Weblogs Inc.'s popular Autoblog, the green version deals with cars and the environment -- think hybrids, gas consumption, alternative fuels, etc.Eco-worrier- Musings on the environment from a columnist at the Times of London.Grist Mill- Dailyenvironmental news delivered in blog form from Grist magazine (which is also about the environment).Green Car Congress- Another environmentally focused automobile blog, focusing on technology, news, and politics relating to the green mobility industry.Inhabitat- Generally about living a greener lifestyle, this blog often deals with subjects around green building and sustainable living.Ecomoto- A two year old blog/magazine examining environmental trends.The Lazy Environmentalist- The blog for a nationally syndicated (US) talk radio show about easy green living.Alternative Consumer- Environmentally friendly products: you want 'em and Alternative Consumer has you covered.Teensy Green- Got kids? Then give Teensy Green a read. A blog for the environmentally aware parent.Haute*Nature- In their own words: "Ecologically based creative ideas, art &green products for your children, home and lifestyle... blending style with sustainability."Hippy Shopper- From the Shiny Media blog network, Hippy Shopper is about all the eco-friendly stuff you covet.Sustainable Style- You can have your cake and eat it too, or in the case of Sustainable Style look good anddo well for the environment.Green Options- A great general enviroblog and community based out of Berkley, California.No Impact Man- The chronicle of a man living in New York City as he attempts to go completely zero impact (i.e., ride a bicycle everywhere, recycle everything, eat locally produced food, and so on)."You click off family’s electricity and make them go to bed at nine every night because it’s too dark to do anything else. You ban them from the elevator so they have to walk up and down nine flights of stairs. You take away their fridge so they can’t keep more than a day or two of food around the house. All this and then they turn around and say it’s life as usual?" -- No Impact ManGreat Green Baby- Another site for the green parent, Great Green Baby reviews eco-friendly baby products.EcoFriend- EcoFriend is a blog about all those sexy, environmentally aware products you want but can't afford.ecoFabulous- Reviews of great green stuff for the house, home, and body.Ecorazzi- Celebrity gossip meets environmentalism. Did you hear that Leonardo DiCaprio is building a 'green hotel' on his 104-acre private island off the coast of Belize with the owners of the Four Seasons Resort chain? No? Then read Ecorazzi.EcoStreet- A well-written and actively updated general evironmental news and commentary blog.Green As Thistle- Green As Thistle chronicles the progress of Vanessa, a Canadian journalist, as she tries to "spend each day, for an entire calendar year, doing one thing that betters the environment." She's on day 229 and still kicking.The Green Guy- The Green Guy writes about "ethical living" and about how to go green without making drastic, life-altering changes to your routine. I just wish he'd update more (by the way, the Adam Vaughn,who writes The Green Guy, also founded another blog on our list, Hippy Shopper).Mindful Momma- There are a lot of blogs out there about green parenting -- it's an entire niche unto itself -- and Mindful Momma is one of the best.Got2BeGreen- A blog focused on all sorts a cool green technology (a recent post deals with how to power your laptop with the sun, for example).Triple Pundit- An intersection of the evironment and politics delivered in an interesting voice with useful commentary."Americans themselves don't want higher fleet standards for mileage unless they can still accelerate like Burt Reynolds in a black Trans Am with a golden eagle on the hood. So, automakers don't want higher fleet standards, because their fleet will sit on the American Car lots for longer than it does already. High mileage, room for seven and rapid acceleration are conflicting realities." -- Triple PunditCelsias- A great general blog about the environment, politics, sustainability, and green living.Enviroblog- Eviroblog talks about public health in the context of environmental policy.Get With Green- If you're remodeling your home or building a new one, subscribe to Get With Green to learn about all the ways you can make your living space environmentally friendly.Green Thinkers- Green Thinkers is, in its own words, "an informal forum for ideas and thoughts on how to live a more green life."Green Wombat- From Business 2.0, Green Wombat was a blog about business, technology, and the environment. With the closing of the magazine this month, however, its future is likely grim. Read the archives online while you still can.Lighter Footstep- Lighter Footsteps is all about sustainable living and leaving less of an imprint by making greener living choices.Life Goggles- Another great general green living blog, with a slight focus on TV and movies as they relate to the environment.Bonus site:If you crave environment news from multiple sources, check out Hugg, which is like digg, but for eco-centric stories.Top 35 image by Kelli Shaver.

  The most recent of the always interesting Pew Internet and American Life reportswas released today and offers some interesting statistics concerning children online and their experiences being contacted by strangers. The gist of the results is this: 11% of girls reported that they had experienced uncomfortable or scary contact by strangers online, that number was significantly higher than for boys and many respondents felt stranger contact and the corresponding risks were a "cost of doing business" as a user in online social networks. The sample size of the survey was 935 and a big grain of salt is required - the write up says that stranger contact can include "a range of direct and indirect communications, including but not limited to: social networking site friend requests, spam email, or comments on a personal blog or photo sharing site." Spam email? None of the results are shocking, but here are the most significant numbers:39% of girls online and surveyed report having been contacted by someone with no connection to them or their friends.24% of boys surveyed said they had experienced stranger contact online.27% of girls who reported any stranger contact said they had experienced stranger contacts that made them scared or uncomfortable, whereas 15% of boys said so.Among all girls surveyed, 11% reported uncomfortable stranger contact. That number was %4 for boys.The authors of the report said that teens typically felt that stranger contact was a "cost of doing business" in online social networks. It's also worth asking whether feeling uncomfortable or scared is an unacceptable event or whether it's an important survival tool, an emotional signal of danger and a better sign than not feeling uncomfortable in the face of a real threat.I asked Anastasia Goodstein, author of the excellent teen oriented blog YPulsefor her thoughts on the study and this is what she told me."What should give parents and educators a reason to breath easier is that most teens are ignoring this contact and only 7 percent reported that these interactions made them feel really scared or uncomfortable.The key take away is that teens don't want to interact with adults on social networking sites unless you're members of a group like a video gaming group on MySpace. They are there to talk with their friends, most of whom they know in person. So if a predator approaches them and says something sexual or creepy, most teens just ignore, delete, block and hopefully report them to the site admins."I would ad the following. Considering the percentage of women and girls in this world who have been subject to abuse by adults and other children and considering how often that abuse is received from a family member or family friend - these statistics are further evidence that inappropriate stranger contact online is significant but receives a disproportionate amount of attention in light of the relative size of the problem.Ask any but the most ardently anti-feminist women you know and they will likely tell you that any environment where only 1 out of every 10 women have felt uncomfortable or scared is a strikingly safe place in this world.While some parents may feel a zero tolerance policy on creepiness is important, this survey indicates that actual experiences and beliefs held by children are different. In the vast majority of cases, kids are tough enough to keep themselves safe on the open web.