I read an awful lot, but despite (or perhaps because of), the sheer volume I read, not many pieces really fire me up. However, this morning, I was lucky enough to read a terrific article by Jim Mortleman. Entitled "Business in the 21st century: Stay tuned for brave new world", this article is a must read for anyone interested in social media (whatever that is), web 3.0 and the future of business.

In my spare time/quasi-professional life, I am something of a search dork. I speak of Google with reverential tones normally reserved for religious figures, Sphinn drama almost always makes me laugh, and I have been known to spend entire weekends investigating Google's site link algorithm in tandem with Google's one line site links.

Certain things are expected of search dorks. Search dorks generally love statistics and linguistics. We read disgusting amounts of information. We 'understand' (and have felt the pains of) Google Voodoo (I think we should start calling it 'goovoodoo'). And we read Matt Cutts' blog with more than passing interest.

Do you own/operate an online shopping website? Have you ever wondered what kinds of things shoppers look for before they decide to buy something on your site? If you answered 'yes' to those questions, this article is for you.

If you follow this space regularly, you will remember that I talked about a report that the United Kingdom's Office of Fair Trading released. "Findings from consumer surveys on Internet Shopping" is full of information that online retailers should pay attention to. However, here is some of the most useful information in that entire report.

Last week I was fortunate enough to catch a live presentation on Internet Marketing & Cyber Security from one of the icons in the Canadian Tech Industry - Steve Dotto

The event was graciously hosted by the Comox Valley Women's Business Network (www.cvwbn.org) in Courtney, BC. With Steve Dotto's wide popularity and appeal, the CVBWN decided to open this presentation to the public and I'll bet they're glad they did. Tickets were sold out and the couple of hundred or so business people, entrepreneurs and technology enthusiasts in attendance were offered an informative and entertaining 90 minutes of 'signature' Steve.