International, US, Canadian that is the order in which I process information. Doing this when I read the newspaper is easy but when it comes to the internet it has become more of a challenge.

I have my IE browsers set for the US but an annoying pop up window keeps asking me if I want to go to the Canadian home page. I tell it ‘not to show me this again’ but every time they  update it comes back. On Mozilla I finally get my Google search beaten into submission so it is set to Google.com not Google.ca. Then the same thing happens, an update and I’m back to square one.  It is not that I have anything against local content but most of the time I need search results that cover a broad spectrum. In an attempt to be user friendly the companies that dominate this internet are also making the world less easy to access.

So what is happening to the World Wide Web? The use of www is now outdated, we no longer put it in our urls and everything related to it falls under the term Internet.  Maintaining search engine optimization in today’s virtual world gets more & more complex and with that we often lose smaller but no less valuable sites.

Canada’s Privacy Commission has taken on FaceBook and more recently Google over privacy issues. Which is fine, intellectually I get it but the creeping in of government interference to ‘protect’ my interests can be a double edged sword.  As they legislated Canadian simulcast commercials into the American stations (that I am paying for) will I one day turn on my computer to find that I only have access to a watered down version of certain sites that are seen as breaking Canada’s privacy laws.

The BBC is currently airing SUPERPOWER: Exploring the extraordinary power of the internet. A title that reminds us how we should neither take the Internet for granted nor try to harness its future potential.

With Your Biscotti & Coffee

1) Moms De Plume

Children’s books take on a new dimension with The Mischievous Mom at the Art Gallery

March 12th edition of the National Post

2) Sanitary pads…… made out of bananas?

While the title is a little humorous and wonderfully green, the motivation behind this product is a serious one. That thousands of women and girls around the world cannot go to school or work because they don’t have sanitary napkins.

Read the article  & Watch the video Marie Claire Magazine

3) The Judy Project

Breaking down how the stereotyping of women in the work world is still prevalent

By Kim Pittaway for More Magazine