"Holland counts 4 million registered MSN users out of an internet population of 11 million. With 26 million MSN users for Europe all together this puts Holland far ahead of other countries.

55% of the dutch MSN population is younger than 25 years, with a fast growing group between 15-19. With an average of 49 buddies it is not uncommon for dutch youngsters to reach the maximum of 150 peers on their list. These numbers are unheard of in the United States, according to the dutch MSN marketing manager Marc Hoenke, who recently requested Ms headquarters to add to the maximum.

Dutch trendwatcher, cultural sociologist Carl Rohde of the universtiy of Utrecht says that MSN is the most common means for young people in Holland to keep in touch with peers and relatives.

Today MSN Messenger is even more popular in Holland than sms-services on mobile telephones. This is due to the growing number of households with a broadband connection on either cable or ADSL. MSN manager Joost Nienhuis beliefs that MSN has the potential to become more popular than email. He expects that Holland's MSN subscriber base will grow to 10 million users." [Smart Mobs]

150 buddies on their lists? Just imagine the social networks these kids are going to have when they enter the work force and what kinds of expectations they'll have for interacting with them!

I wonder how many of these kids use MSN or similar services to contact the library?

Low Cost Memory Cards to the Corner Grocery

"The first members of the Shoot & Store line include 32 MB CompactFlash and SD cards. These will be sold in grocery stores and pharmacies for $14.99.

By the middle of the year, SanDisk plans to distribute 64MB cards at an initial price of $24.99, as well as add other card formats including Memory Stick PRO." [Brighthand, via PDA 24/7]

Further down on the page, Brighthand then notes "SanDisk also just announced the first 4 GB CompactFlash card that can be used in any CompactFlash device." Granted, it will cost $1000 when it hits the market in April, but that price should fall significantly over the next year.

It's amazing that you can carry 4GB on you on a card the size of a quarter. But wait, there's more!

SimpleTech Announces 8GB Compact Flash Card

""Digital Photography Review is reporting that SimpleTech has announced 2, 4, 5 and 8GB Type II Compact Flash Cards utilizing its patented IC Tower stacking technology." [Slashdot]

It's like a crazy game of poker - "I'll see your 2GB card, and raise you another 2GB." "Well, I'll double your bet and raise you another 4GB to 8...."

In 2000, I had a 128MB memory stick for my digital camera during our summer vacation. I ran out of room pretty quickly, and we had to scramble to find a place to buy another one. I paid premium price for it, and there was only one store in town that even sold them. Now I wonder how long will it be until you can buy a terabyte on a quarter-size card at the grocery store.

This type of ubiquity and utility is going to have a major effect on how we view, keep, and use digital bits and bytes, whether they be pictures, music, video, or text (information). It's the ultimate shift to have remote access to your data and files while also being able to carry the most important ones with you all the time.