A site's signup page is the second most important page on a site (the most important is the home page itself) because this is where you're asking for committment. Everyone worries about the home page (and still don't do a good job), but most companies do a poor job with the signup page. For example, HAMweather's is aesthetically-challenged, and Last.fm's doesn't convey enough information. This article about signup pages by Tim Bednar is a good read. His list of important signup-page elements is:

Hong Kong – With nearly 20% of the world’s population and one of the fastest growing economies, China’s decision today to restrict internet video to state-run companies is sure to have a large impact on the strategic thinking of digital media content providers everywhere. The AP reports that the new regulations will begin on January 31, and were approved by the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television, and the Ministry of Information Industry.

Celebrity support for presidential candidates is nothing new, nor is the negative impact such support can often garner. It has led some of the 2008 candidates to form looser ties with celebrities than in years past, but one celebrity and her choice for president – Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama – have formed a bond in the last several months that would lead observers to question whether the two are considering a Prez-VP run at the Oval Office.

Little Rock, Arkansas – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has shuttered its online movie download service, the AP reports. The company launched the service in February with 3,000 titles, but customers could not watch them on an Apple Inc. device.

Senators Clinton and Obama have taken to the internet to spread their messages in recent months like teens to MySpace. It began with Clinton’s launch of The Fact Hub, a site dedicated to providing quick responses to charges and news reports that her campaign deems inaccurate. Then Obama released Hillary Attacks a month later, which serves to acknowledge then dismantle incoming barbs from Clinton.

Ah, yes, another day, another set of nude photos found in the garbage of a celebrity.  Today’s victim is Marcia Cross, red-headed star of Desperate Housewives.  TMZ reported in October 2006 that the photos, taken by Cross’s husband and “mistakenly” thrown out, only to be discovered by the garbage men and sold to the highest bidder, have finally hit the web (see them here).

We occasionally take for granted the source of news in this business, believing some to be above reporting rumors, speculation, and falsities. NBC, though likely guilty of reporting false facts before, is one such organization you might trust more than others. Such was the case yesterday when, in the hours leading up to baseball’s Mitchell Report, set for public scrutiny at 2pm EST, news sources jockeyed to release “leaked” information which amounted to nothing more than hot air. WNBC in New York reported the news as fact, citing “two separate sources.”

A Microsoft Santa Claus bot created to talk to children took on a curriculum of its own this week when it began saying, “It’s fun to talk about oral sex, but I want to chat about something else…,” Network World reported.

Facebook Beacon, currently in the process of going down in flames, is a classic case of overreaching. So much has been written about what’s wrong with Beacon — blatant privacy violation, lack of blanket opt-out, failure to make it opt-in, gathering data from non-Facebook users — but I haven’t seen much about WHY they got it so wrong. (Except for Umair, of course, who called Facebook evil back when everyone was still slobbering over them.) The reason why Facebook got it so wrong with Beacon is actually much more interesting and important to the evolution of media, advertising, and technology than the reason why Beacon is imploding.

As the conclusion to the races for party nominations draws closer, bare-knuckle boxing has ensued. Senator Barack Obama has taken his fight to the internet, creating a website called Hillary Attacks, which, as its name might suggest, serves the purpose of acknowledging, and then dismantling, oncoming barbs from Senator Hillary Clinton.

A couple months ago I wrote that the mobile web sucks, based on my own user experience that didn’t seem to match the hype. Some people agreed, but a lot of people defended, passionately, the mobile web. Today the New York Times published some interesting data:

I love the feedback on my position on P2P traffic. The well thought out "You Suck", " Or "the internet isnt that way", or "The ISP is selling me 10mbs, I can use it anyway I want" Guess what, business models do evolve over time. You may want your ISP to be exactly how you want it to be. You may read into your experience with them anything you want. But it can and will change if the economics don't work for them. No amount of whining about "what the internet is supposed to be" will change any of that.