This monster is Facebook. Even three years ago it was the 5th most valuable U.S. internet company. It wants to know everything about you. It wants to know who your friends are, your age, where you live, what you like to do, where you like to eat, your dogs name, the tricks your dog can do… EVERYTHING.

Some would consider this an invasion of privacy. But people willingly trust and tell this machine all of their secrets. Now, privacy is becoming a huge area of scrutiny toward the Facebook monster. Due to increased cases of identity theft leaving people to fend for themselves.

Some customers are outraged by the lack of privacy and the nature of Facebooks secrecy around member security, or lack there of.  A recent Q&A showed users distrust with the company.

Even with the apparent lack of trust toward a corporation that seemingly put advertisement revenue before it’s members needs, Facebook still has millions of members, and new members are signing up everyday.

The way I look at it? Facebook has a point. People by now should know that bad consequences can result in putting any kind of information readily available on the Web. This isn’t one of those monsters that little kids shut their eyes too in hopes that it will go away. This monster is of the likes which has never been seen before. One that is welcomed and sits quietly on our desks, and when it strikes you’ll least expect it.

Those were the good ol’ days when you would just watch whatever was on or whatever just came out on video. And you were content.

Then something amazing came our way, and it was called 3D. 3D changes the way people view movies. It’s not just you staring at a screen. But it’s everyone in the room interacting with the screen.  More over, it’s a new way of telling a story. And it’s becoming more of an experience again.

Hollywood is starting to catch on to the business model people want. They want participation, personalization, and that other thing. Like the iPad, except cool, movies are starting to adopt the internet model.

Although 3D may be the start by having viewers wear glasses, it’s just the first step. Suites are being tested and sensored gloves are being made to make movies more personalized, and for the viewer to feel like they are actually participating.

It’s a good time to be a consumer. It’s a good time to be a movie-goer. Journalism is trying to find new ways of reaching in audience, maybe it’s time they look to the screen.

I know, I’m sorry. Just when you think you couldn’t care any less about a gadget you’ll probably never own, unless your an enormous nerd or you have $500 dollars to blow on something you could just use your desktop for, you start reading another blog about the iPad.

But wait! What’s that? There’s news?!

That’s right! The iPad was banned in Israel! That’s amazing! Isn’t listening to iPad news just swell?

Apparently iPad’s disrupt Israel’s wireless signals along with other gadgets. Not even tourists to the country can bring these little electronic books over its borders.

Will the iPad change journalism? Um… Who cares?! Did you not hear me say Israel cannot get iPad’s?! This is a tragedy, and I think we should start some kind of Israel relief campaign, immediately.

For those that may live in a cave somewhere and have not heard or read of the thousands of iPad articles and blogs, the iPad is this incredible new device that may, to the naked eye, look exactly like a computer monitor. But get this – you can touch it.

I’m glad we covered such an exciting and mind-shatteringly interesting topic as the iPad. Because if I didn’t know things like, what countries it was banned from, I just wouldn’t know what to write about!

Hundreds of Danish workers walked off their cush jobs at the beer factory in protest and disgust. What were they protesting? Not being able to drink the sweet nectar that is beer during work anymore.

What kind of sick world do we live in where a human being can’t cling glasses of ice cold freshness with another human being while operating heavy machinery?

I’ll tell you one thing, I must be living in the wrong country. My employer doesn’t give me free anything, not even an employee discount, much less free beer everyday. If I was allowed to drink beer at work I’d jump, no, I’d pole vault out of bed every morning with a smile on my face bigger than a kids who woke up knowing he was going to Disneyland.

The funny thing about this story is Carlsberg didn’t even take away drinking completely. They still allow workers to drink during lunch. Where the hell is Willy Wonka and why can’t I work at this magical beer factory?

Even the truck drivers protested and they still get to drink while they drive. The main problem seems to be Carlsberg taking beer out of the coolers. So I did some searching  to help the poor workers at Carlsberg out.

I can’t believe 250 people straight up quit their job at the factory. All I want to know is, how do I apply?

California may become the first state to legalize marijuana. On the November ballot of this year, voters will get to decide if California residents can smoke their weed legally, thanks to numerous petitions pushing legislation. I think this is extremely interesting for 2 reasons:

First, is that pot has been illegal in the U.S. since 1937! A whole multi-billion dollar industry of growing and distributing marijuana illegally has been set up over the past 40 years. It could drastically change California economy and effect the entire U.S., if it were to become legal.

That brings me to my second point: What will happen to society? Will it, along with the economy, turn out better or worse?

I dont have the answer to those questions, but I can promise you there will be change. Why? How about the fact that nearly 50% of people in the ENTIRE U.S. ages 12 and over have tried pot in their lifetime.

Imagine what would happen if it were legal to smoke weed in ONE state out of the entire country. Boom towns would develop in California just like they had in the 19th century. Except this time, people back east will load up their mini-vans, and head west with high (pun intended) hopes of striking it green.

Most industries you can see, and therefore predict what kind of  economical impact they will make. With the vast underground and illegal marijuana industry, we don’t have any idea if the economy will boom, or just burn up (pun intended).

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I was completely oblivious to this rivalry until I bought a Motorola Droid at the beginning of January. Then out of nowhere, as if I just drew a gigantic target on my back, iPhone kids would come up to me when they saw my Droid and say, “iPhones are better.”

Now I don’t really care which operating system is “better”. In fact, I’m almost certain it comes down to more of an opinion anyway. Nevertheless, I’ve been thrown into a community I had no idea even existed. Unfortunately for me, my technology community is colliding with another.

The iPhone community LOVES their cell phone. They stick together. And they don’t like that the big, bad Droid came along and wants to steal their glory. Why does the Droid community want to show we’re superior to the iPhone? I have no idea. Yet I find myself defending my purchase all too frequently.

Since January I’ve noticed that iPhone vs Droid talk is all over the place. The internet is a great place to form communities. And trust me, it forms STRONG communities. Sometimes you step into a community on your own free will. Other times you get dragged in, and are forced to do battle.

This is an issue that draws the attention of many people. I doubt the U.S. would go back to looking exactly like it did in 1990, where the internet was more of an idea than an actual infrastructure. I mean that was 20 years ago, and now we’ve become too dependant.

I can’t even remember the last time I went to a bank. Imagine the line to the bank being twice as long as the line to the DMV. That’s what would happen if the internet failed.

It’s not just money that people need to keep track of, but everything else they’ve gotten attached to through the Web. People even rely on the Net for survival. Who needs a doctor when you can look up your condition yourself and find the best cure that suits you?

All the old industry’s and professions that the internet is wiping out would be back and making more money than they have ever before. Some people believe that life is more hectic with the internet and technology, forcing us to multi-task. Since we’ve constructed our lives around the Web, having the mortar that holds our lives together come undone, would leave Americans confused, angry, and in chaos.

I sort of laugh silently to myself when I hear about how the gatekeepers in our media – the ones that tell us what news is credible, reliable, and worthy of our time – are looking out for our best interests. How noble they are, for feeding us the stories that brighten our lives… I dont think so.

Here’s a story about Conan O’Brian growing a beard. Good thing we have filters to tell us what’s important. 

There are people out in the world that have a distorted view of reality. These people believe gatekeepers, the ones who pretty much own the large media corporations, are looking out for people’s best interests. This obviously is not true. Why do I know this? Because all you have to do is look at the news.

Yesterday, Shaun White won the gold in Mens Halfpipe. Right before his final run, the censors let a few bad words slip. The guardians failed us.

Gatekeepers have a business to run, and the only thing they’re concerned about is their business. So they’ll dish out in huge masses, what they think people will pay for the most.

Times have changed. Now, it’s everday people, not gatekeepers, who have to sift through piles of unorganized media (like the Web) and decide for ourselves what’s relevant, important, and credible.

I’ve thought about these questions and you know what I’ve found? That they’re too hard to answer. So let’s talk about something that’s easy.

Video games. The video game industry has seen a decline in sales for years now. Every year, month-to-month, sales are dropping more and more. It would seem to me that video games would be on the rise, considering technology is making consoles that support games with better graphics and a higher ability for more creative design.

This last holiday season wielded the best month for sales in video game industry history, tallying up $5.53 billion dollars in December. Games are starting to see the trends of people shifting toward the internet and the industry is adapting.

A big part of the December success was sales for the mainly on-line multiplayer game “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2″. Game consoles are competing quickly to find what technology they can use in there games and how best to utilize it.

Industry anaylysts are already seeing the trend and making predictions about what technology we will be seeing in video games throughout 2010. In an attempt to bring up the industry, it will be interesting to see games using 3D and becoming used more for basic social networking. The video game industry might even become an area where media giants such as Google, could turn it’s focus.