New Scientist’s technology blog has listed “five web organizations that [they] think are going to come unstuck, one way or another, during 2008.”

Ignoring, of course, the intentional ambiguity of “one way or another,” ensuring astrological prescience, they’ve made a few bold claims. Even Google made the list.

“Google’s latest venture into renewable energy research is a clear misstep. The company has no knowledge, experience or culture of energy research, and even its famous ephemeral Googleness that transforms everything it touches into gold will not be enough to give the company any leverage in this area. Google hasn’t bet the farm on this project, but that won’t stop it getting a bloody nose.”

Link.

Rewriting is hard, but crucial. It’s often really difficult to part with things you love about your script/story/blog/etc even if it’s for the good of your work. So Justine Larbalestier has written a fantastic piece about how to rewrite. She gives some great, practical examples, including how even Snakes on a Plane could have been a better movie with a good rewrite.

Snakes on a plane spoiler alert:

“In one scene Mr Jackson has to go down into the snake-infested part of the plane to flick a switch and save the plane from crashing. But it’s all too easy and he returns unscathed. Boring!

I would have introduced the snakes more gradually and would have had Samuel L. bitten by one with a slow-acting venom very early on to make the whole movie a bit more DOA. Can he save the whole plane and himself? Will there be an anti-venom waiting for him if the plane arrives?”

Link. via John Scalzi