Morning

John Markoff writes in the New York Times about Microsoft's $44.6 billion offer to buy Yahoo. Slightly esoteric analysis at times but some interesting facts and observations about the computer market. "Internet technology ("cloud computing") has overtaken the PC desktop as the center of the action, as people increasingly view the computer as merely a doorway to their virtual world." Says 1 billion people have personal computers and 3 billion have cellphones. Mentions Intels new mobile phone microprocessor Silverthorne.

An intresting new concept apparently growing in popularity: attention economy. First articulated by Herbert Simon (1971): "...in an information-rich world, the wealth of information means a dearth of something else:.. the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it".

Thanks to Laura for blogging Nature's editor-in-chief's eloquent, well-balanced change of mind about human cognitive enhancement.