It's become something of a ritual - every year, Google publishes its year-end summary of what the world wants, and every year I complain about how shallow it is, given what Google really knows about what the world is up to.

The old internet is shrinking and being replaced by walled gardens over which Google's crawlers can't climb.

We overthrew the feudal system in the 1600s, and the theocracy in the 1700s. But currently, corporations play similar roles in many of our lives, either directly or indirectly.

Increasingly, search is our mechanism for how we understand ourselves, our world, and our place within it.

It's become something of a ritual - every year, Google publishes its year-end summary of what the world wants, and every year I complain about how shallow it is, given what Google really knows about what the world is up to.

Where one industry stumbles, another rises up.

WordPress makes it drop-dead easy to start a site. Take my advice and go do it.