Myspace, which I've often felt looks like it was submitted as a final project in an HTML 101 class, if finally rolling out a redesign. This is definitely in response to the much-sleeker Facebook, which completely eclipsed Myspace on its meteoric rise to the top of the social networking world. Unfortunately, Facebook is also launching a redesign sometime in the near future. So… status quo. [CNET]

Last month, French politicians introduced legislation that would ban pro-anorexia content from the Internet. There was much buzz about this due to the nebulous definition of "pro-anorexia" material. Now they're expanding their censorship sights — child pornography (blocked from the 'net in several countries, and Verizon, Sprint and Time Warner Cable agreed yesterday to a similar ban in New York ) and "content linked to" terrorism, and racism will all be blocked in France. The blacklist will be compiled based on sites flagged by Internet users. It seems hardly foolproof, particularly the racism and terrorism thing. I mean, here in the states, certain people would have marked a simple dap between husband and wife terrorism. And others, in turn, would have flagged that reaction as racism. Murky waters! [AP]

Barry Diller, the chairman and CEO of IAC, which owns Ask.com, Match.com, Evite, and College Humor, among many others, has just launched Rushmore Drive, a new online community geared toward blacks and centered around an "ethnic," Ask.com-powered search engine that delivers both mainstream results and results targeted toward African Americans. "Every person is looking for a more relevant search result," Johnny Taylor, head of IAC's Black Web Enterprises Inc. unit and chief executive of RushmoreDrive.com, told the Charlotte Observer. "It recognizes who you are, so you can find what you're looking for every time."

Is that true? Just to test out that theory, and being of the core demographic, I searched some general terms on both Rushmore Drive and Ask.com to see how the first-page results differed. The first result on Rushmore Drive was usually something mainstream like Travelocity or Monster.com, but the subsequent results were very clearly pointed in the "African American" direction, but not always helpfully so. Ex: My search for "food" yielded "Chitterlings.com." So not interested. You sort of get the idea that the Rushmore Drive engine just adds "black and African American" to your search terms. I'm not planning on switching from Google anytime soon, but it should be interesting to see how it evolves with more use. Plus, when I searched "blog," Stereohyped wasn't on the first page. Boo.

Check out some selections from my experiment after the jump.

CONTINUED »

Kanye West has been busy with music, touring, weathering tragedy, writing grammatically incorrect Kanye-isms for a new book… and yet, the guy always has time for one more thing.

A fan-oriented search engine?

When you use searchwithkanyewest.com, powered by Google and Ask, you can find out the results of your query and win "swag bucks," which are redeemable for Kanye-centric prizes like autographed CDs, MP3 downloads, clothing, exclusive merchandise and consumer electronics. There's also a toolbar available for download that increases your swag bucks.

I would say something to make fun of this new venture, but I'm actually shocked no one has thought of this before.

• Black teens love them some Michael Vick, dog fighting and all. [ET]

• Environmental racism could be going on right under your nose. Literally. [LW]

• Minorities, young people, hip hop, and the internet — a recipe for profit. [BW]

• T.I. sincerely looks forward to being exonerated. He said so himself. [AP]

• LL Cool J is still pouting about Def Jam. [EUR]

Here's more proof that the Internet rules the world — we don't even watch television anymore. Maybe it's because we can watch whatever we want online, and on our own time, as it is.

In the latest sign of television's decline as the primary media device, 19% of respondents said they spend six hours or more each day on personal Internet usage. That compares with 8% who said so about the TV. One to four hours of TV usage was reported by 66%, compared with 60% for the Web.

"The Internet is becoming consumers' primary entertainment source," said Saul Berman, IBN Media & Entertainment Strategy and Change practice leader. "The TV is increasingly taking a back seat to the cell phone and the personal computer among consumers age 18-34."

Swapping Internet for television is one thing — although I cannot fathom how one might live without TV — the fact that one in four U.S. adults didn't read a single book last year is just sad. Read an E-book, at least!

[HR]

• True to form, Kanye West plays it safe and gets bold with 50 Cent at the same time. I kind of like his style. [YT]

• And Kenny Chesney, whose last four albums debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts, tells Kanye and 50 not to forget about him on September 11. [AHH]

• LL Cool J's back in the acting business. His television show, The Man, might get a mid-season pickup. [EUR]

• Which is more frightening, the fact that Foxy Brown's having a baby or the fact that Nicole Richie's is? I've gotta say I'm on team Nicole with this one. [NYP]

• The internet alone helps keep many 13-24 year-olds happy. And that's sad. [Jossip]

Kanye West, whose much anticipated album is coming out on the same day as 50 Cent's next month, is tired of using technology. Actually, scared is more like it.

Kanye West avoids logging onto uncensored online blogging websites - because he's scared of discovering cruel comments written about him. The Gold Digger hit maker admires stars who have the courage to read hurtful web postings, but is too sensitive to follow their example.

He says, "Man, it really takes a strong person to read the blogs. It's just no-holds-barred. So if you're feeling good about yourself and you want to feel like s#*t, go to the blogs."

I can't imagine a guy with Kanye's ego being able to completely avoid blogs or, for that matter, criticism of any sort, but maybe he has someone send him links to all the positive posts and reviews. Could this be why he takes losses at awards shows so badly?

He performed in Chicago this weekend (see above and below), presumably to a crowd that only had positive feelings for him.

[SP, WI]