Friend-and-former-employee Flip Martin produces a piece of software known as IC-Switch. It's designed to make it very easy to quickly switch the apps you use for certain protocols like http (switch your default browser), mailto (switch your default email program), nntp (default news reader), etc., etc., etc. Mostly useful for web developers and tech support, probably, and it's mac-only. I've mentioned it before.

(MacOS 9 used to include "Internet Config" for doing the same thing. When they didn't produce something similar for OS X, Flip did IC-Switch. Thus the name.)

I didn't notice it until just now, but Flip reported on Tuesday that MacWorld (actually, the MacGems weblog on MacWorld) reviewed it... way back in December.

The author understands why it behaves the way it does (designed for quick and frequent switching), and appreciated it. Very cool. Congratulations, Flip! (And I won't even tease you about the new word you invented. Much.)

Yesterday I was told that a close friend thinks "it's creepy to be on the internet," and that "blogs are creepy."

Yes, fine, sure, there are lots of people that still don't get it. There are also lots of people at another point along the wheel who almost understand weblogs but are running scared. Much of the mainstream media fits that category: they're constantly attacking "blogs" and "bloggers" (oh how I hate those words!), but it always comes down to the same thing: they're scared.

Peggy Noonon wrote an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal that sums up weblogs brilliantly. She'll tell you why they're important, and what they mean. She doesn't cover every detail, nor every angle: I said it was perfect, not exhaustive.

Go, read and be inspired.

(Thanks for the link, Dave.)