It's too hot -- 87 percent humidity, like it's the dog days of August already -- to do much but point and run back into the air-conditioned bedroom.

AP
Prince performed in Minneapolis last Saturday.

Prince Points the Way to a Brighter Future for Music at Wired.

...(Prince) most recently outraged the music establishment by saying he'll give away CDs of his Planet Earth album to British fans who purchase next week's Mail on Sunday newspaper. In light of the giveaway, Sony/BMG refused to distribute the album in Great Britain, provoking outbursts from music retailers who had been cut out of the action.

Neither the Mail on Sunday or Prince's camp would divulge how much the newspaper paid Prince for the right to give his album away, but it's clear Prince was paid upfront, and that nearly 3 million Mail on Sunday readers -- plus everyone who bought tickets to one of his shows -- will receive the CD for free. The giveaway almost certainly contributed to Prince selling out 15 of his 21 shows at London's O2 Arena within the first hour of ticket sales. The venue (formerly the Millennium Dome) holds around 20,000 people. If the remaining six shows sell out, the series will gross over $26 million.

Combined with the undisclosed fee paid by the Mail on Sunday, it's not a bad take for someone who's involved in a "very clear devaluing of music."

Prince's latest gambit also succeeded by acknowledging that copies, not songs, are just about worthless in the digital age. The longer an album is on sale, the more likely it is that people can find somewhere to make a copy from a friend's CD or a stranger's shared-files folder. When copies approach worthlessness, only the original has value, and that's what Prince sold to the Mail on Sunday: the right to be Patient Zero in the copying game...

Strict accountability: China food safety head executed

The former head of China's State Food and Drug Administration, Zheng Xiaoyu, has been executed for corruption, the state-run Xinhua news agency reports.

He was convicted of taking 6.5m yuan ($850,000; £425,400) in bribes and of dereliction of duty at a trial in May.

The bribes were linked to sub-standard medicines, blamed for several deaths.

No "Helluva job, Zheng" for him!

Who you know: 10 Most Beautiful Social Networks

35 Perspectives on Online Social Networking

Avoiding Walled Gardens on the Internet

If the future of this Web interests you, don't miss this interview with Cluetrain co-author Doc Searls: SAP Global Survey: Doc Searls. (Yeah, the headline isn't illuminating.) Bruce Sterling gives it a better one in his takeout: The Static Web and the Live Web.)

3. What is the biggest surprise to you on how social media has developed?

I've got to admit that I don't like the term "social media." When I hear or read it, I tune out. My problem isn't with the word "social," but with the word "media." It's a loaded word, framed by a hundred years' experience with pre-Net "media" that reduced everything to "content" (another word I dislike) that was then "delivered" somehow. There is a a sense of distance to "media" that I believe diminshes our understanding of the Net. It's a bugaboo with me, and I'll admit to being pretty much alone with it.

4.You described the term Web 2.0 as the name for the next bubble. Do you still think this is true? Is it true of social media as well?

I've said "Web 2.0 is what we'll call the next crash," as well as the current bubble. and I still believe that. Social Media as a "meme" may sink with the same boat. The more useful distinction is between the Live Web and the Static Web. The Live Web today is branching off of the Static Web. Much of what we call "social" happens there, though I dislike the "media" term because it's old and freighted with concepts inherited from TV, radio and all that.

To understand what I mean, consider what we're saying when we call the Web a collection of "domains" and "sites" with "locations" and "addresses" that we " build" -- and where we look for "visitors" and "traffic." We're saying the Web is real estate. We conceive it in terms we've borrowed from real estate and construction....

I can't remember where I read this, but I like this definition of Web 2.0: "You create the content, we keep the revenue."

Not Mickey Mouse: Unusual Cell Phones

NextWeb: 50 Best Websites 2007. Many offer tools or functions rather than "content."