Things I read that I found interesting and worthy of comment July 31st through August 1st:

• Beyond Privacy Mirror – This is the type of behavior I was afraid of given the completely mystifying settings in FBs Privacy Settings. I had all of mine turned down to "Friends Only" and will now go and set all to "None" with regard to anything that isn't direct friend-to-friend communication. I'm also glad I have two separate FB accounts, one for my family and most trusted friends (I post there every day just about) and everyone else (I hardly ever post there).
• No Worries, Sergey. We Can Make It Back in a Week on Mesothelioma Ads. – Yahoo about to follow suit?
• OpenID for Google Apps is Here, But Not Everybody's Happy – OpenID frankly needs some help in several directions to be seriously useful. You know, some minor items like a security model. Small stuff. All these "portal" players turning their IDs into OpenIDs does not impress me. First, no way is OpenID secure, consequently, there's no way I'm going to trust the hidden hand-offs from say Google to anyone else and that's only if I actually trusted Google to protect my credential. No way I can do that till they give me a credential that is more than a single factor password and NOT a freakin' OTP token, thank you very little! Second, someone needs to apply a security model to OpenID and a two-factor authentication mechanism would be a good place to start.
• Is AP Run By Idiots? (Erik Sherman/BNET Technology) – Answer to the headline. Unequivocable Yes.
• Suddenly, Verizon Loves Wi-Fi – What's That Apple Tablet Got To Do With It? (Om Malik/GigaOM) – Apple Tablet (perhaps a new use for the word "applet"?) sounds good, as I've mentioned before. On Verizon? Even better.
• Rumored Apple Tablet is a Train Wreck (Michael Scalisi/PC World) – This guy may prove right, but if so, not for the reasons he mentions, IMHBAO (InMyHumbleButAccurateOpinion). Third party accessory makers will spring up with covers that have a flap to cover the screen and can be used as a prop stand for watching videos. Fold out portable bluetooth keyboard makers will see a surge in sales for those that from time to time need to do seriously typing on the road. Remember, I am not an Apple fan and actually lean toward the "hater" end of the scale as far as they are concerned as I'm naturally counter-cool-culture. However, this has my attention far more than the iPhone. Heck, once they come to their senses and permit Google Voice back on their platform(s), it won't really matter if they put phone functionality on the device natively or not, which has been the one thing I feared they wouldn't put on the device.
• In Study, Texting Lifts Crash Risk by Large Margin (Matt Richtel/New York Times) – We needed a study for this news? Looking at tiny screen and trying to hit tinier buttons is more dangerous than talking or eating fries? Astonishing!
• Thanks for giving my pixels back, browser makers (Stephen Shankland/CNET News) – I completely agree. Chrome is my favorite browser and one of the key reasons is it is at least one row of toolbars shorter than either IE or FF… and way faster than both, can't forget that.
• Barnes & Noble makes Wi-Fi free via AT&T (Peter Cohen/Macworld) – Hmmm, guess I will stop and there more often on the road to shop, drink coffee and surf or work.
• US Movie Companies Go After The Pirate Bay – Again (Enigmax/TorrentFreak) – Anyone know why all the focus on the same sights over and over for accessing content available in so many other / different places? The idea to nail down the big / high-profile sites to scare the other nails to melt into slag? Seems like any hammering will just pop-up more nails. Sorry for the tortured metaphor and now rapid switch… the horses aren't just out of the barn, but are setting up their own download sites!
• New Twitter Homepage Goes Live With Search Front And Center (MG Siegler/TechCrunch) – uh, ok. guess that this is meaningful to fans of the twitter, but certainly doesn't do anything to attract me to be a fan. yawn, back to my RSS feed.
• What our Microsoft deal means to you (Carol Bartz/Yodel Anecdotal) – And what does Yahoo do best? Seems that they are pulling an AOL-like dive and just pushed the flight stick forward… hard.
• Windows Mobile becomes Windows Phone (Rob Kerr/Inquirer) – Hopefully Windows Phone will actually be a phone OS and not Windows on a phone. That's the main problem, not the name.
• High-Speed Rail and CO2 – Rail sucks. Has to be forced on free wheelin' Americans who obviously agree in a vast majority or the private sector would have built not just one, but a lot of these.