Thursday, Nov 18th - Daily Links

• The theme of the day seems to be me trying to wrap my head around a common mindset and with this I just ... can't.  Do the royals really still mean this much, or is it just self-perpetuating media hype?
  
  "Retail analyst Verdict estimates that the Royal Wedding could bring in an extra $984 million to the U.K. economy next year, of which $343 million would come from travel and tourism, and the other $641 million benefiting retailers."
  
  http://adage.com/globalnews/article?article_id=147150
  
  
• It seems like we're finally hitting a point where Android vs iOS can be a real discussion, but this could be a huge misstep for Android.  I don't play Angry Birds, I have no interest in Angry Birds, but I can at least understand how huge it is as a game and how this Android fragmentation could befuddle the average user.  The inability of a lot of these commenters to see beyond their sphere and the sense of entitlement they have gets real annoying real quick.  And as annoyingly smug as Steve Jobs' comments can be around the iPhone having a closed system, no one's been proving him wrong.
  
  http://www.rovio.com/index.php?mact=Blogs,cntnt01,showentry,0&cntnt01entryid=47&cntnt01returnid=58
  
  
• A very "inside baseball" link, but it's interesting for me to think about the online poker industry from an outsider's perspective rather than as a longtime grinder (similar to the Beatles announcement).  There's nothing about Phil Hellmuth that would make me want to follow him anywhere; I despise the man, or I at least despise his public persona.  How does him showing contempt for all other players make him a commodity?
  
  http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29/news-views-gossip/ub-phil-hellmuth-breaking-up-gossip-speculation-921383/
  
  
• I'm doing more and more reading/listening on the power of social media and warming up to some of those ideas, and this story hits on some of the good and bad (OH YEAAAAAAHHH).
  
  http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2010/11/video-pauly-d-causes-a-situation-university-rhode-island-cops-called