Admittedly, we're loving the mash-ups internerds have been cranking out since Google Maps released some of its code. The latest time-waster to capture our fickle hearts is an extremely handy Google mapping tool for internet popularity contest HotOrNot. By entering your zipcode and your sexual preferences, the program can give you a handy map of available "hotties" in your preferred neighborhood. You might not like who turns up, but keep in mind that your search results are only going to turn up the sorts who would put their picture up for mass judgment on something like HotOrNot. But whatever: If you're seriously using this thing, you can't afford to be choosy.

We have no idea why Comcast chose this image to advertise a deal on its high-speed Internet service, but we've never been so glad to be Time Warner subscribers.

Maybe it's just our innate skepticism, but isn't this going to be a really boring "look?" Let's check it out:

We always hate when we get one of those artificially cheery mass emails from a friend or a source who has one of those automated contact-list update things going on. We find it not just impersonal and infantilizing, but also really obnoxious — since when is it our job to keep your address book current?

Frustrating as it may be, you have to admit that encountering login troubles for the Post online is kind of like getting spanked by an old friend — it hurts, but the familiarity of the pain is strangely comforting. A reader writes:

First thought: Who are those 27,000 people?

On the other hand, some people like 'em with big heads.

You gotta hand it to the old man. NewsCorp numen Rupert Murdoch wouldn't go and buy some internet company if he weren't already very familiar with it, now would he? Of course not. So we don't understand why everyone's assuming that Murdoch's profile for his newly-acquired online network MySpace is just the work of some prankster. From his profile:

The logo at right accurately sums up our reaction to this afternoon's big after-the-bell news: Friendster -meets-cellphone social service Dodgeball.com has been bought by Google for an undisclosed price.

As if the bashed and battered media industry hadn't suffered enough of late, along comes yet another scandal where the veracity of a reporter's work has been challenged and found wanting. It seems an investigation by Adam Penenberg (the Sherlock Holmes of media detective work, apparently) has determined that dozens of people cited in articles by [Michelle] Delio primarily during the past 18 months could not be located. Many of the people who were cited as sources and who could not be located had common names and occupations and were reported to be living in large metropolitan regions. Delio, a freelancer for Wired News, disputes the contention, saying that - wait a second. Wired News? Wired News? You mean those guys who run stories like Blogger Jason Kottke has gone pro ? This is what we're getting all worked up about? Hell, we assumed they made that stuff up as part of the job. Give us a call when someone important forges another memo or something. Hmmmph. Wired News. Really. AB

Our minds are blown. The people behind the Webby Awardswho presumably know of what they speak on such topicswill give Al Gore a lifetime-achievement award at their gala ceremony at Gotham Hall next month. Turns out, he really did, as he claimed, "take the initiative in creating the Internet."

Just so you know we pick on hets, too:

· BusinessWeek does a cover story on blogs, billed as "Blog 101 for businesses." Lesson #1: Never hire a blogger. Trust us. [BusinessWeek]
· Glamour EIC Cynthia Leive still has a smoking hot bod after having baby, buying a Brooklyn townhouse and undergoing stress of winning an Ellie. [NYT]
· Matt Lauer dumped after 6 year marriage by modelite wife Annette Roque; searches Manhattan for new apartment, contemplates growing back hair. [National Enquirer]

With the imminent launch of Radar: The Website, the competition to host the hottest online cocktail party of the season gets hotter. We're blessed this morning with a leaked email from the digital camp of Arianna Huffington, whose plans to create a "left-wing competitor" to the Drudge Report didn't seem to ruffle Drudge but did get under the skin of Maer Roshan, who feared all the best guests would leave his digital soir e early and head over to Arianna's place.

It's been a dreary few years for NYC venture capitalists, having ceded the mantel of eight-figure annual incomes to the hedge fund set. But the recent angel funding of tagging service del.icio.us has local venture capitalist Fred Wilson in a boom-time mood. He writes on his blog:

Alan Meckler, CEO of Internet.com, started a blog fairly recently and is writing quite a bit about his primary competitor, Fred Rosen (the CEO of Key3Media, which produces Comdex.) [Ed. notedoes Meckler's attorney know he has a blog?] From Meckler's CEO blog: "Well Cap'n [Fred Rosen]your legal machinations will put us in the news and help ensure our victory. So bring it on and make my day! You and your crew continue to demonstrate why your company is in bankruptcy. Please keep the steady course into the iceberg field! Please continue to destroy Comdex." Another reason why NY is better than San Francisco: our leftover dot com CEOs are far more entertaining.
Comdex is desperate [CEO Weblog: Alan Meckler]