Links for May 30, 2006 (a Tuesday trio)

INSERT ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE and summary counters

Some bits about MySQL functionality that is oh. so. perfect. for developing counters. This post also mentions the INET_ATON and INET_NTOA functions that convert IP addresses to integers and back, offering a savings on field length (Via Matt).
• Related: Miscellaneous Functions from the MySQL manual.
• Sort of related: COUNT(*)-ing stuff in MySQL

US court backs online reporters

With any luck this decision will stand: ‘bloggers’ now have the same rights as ‘journalists’ — at least in California. (Bloggers vs. Journalists always struck me as a stupid debate. Some blogging is indeed journalism.)

Some cell phone owners spurn gadgetry

I’d say that for most people, ease-of-use trumps features Every. Single. Time. Case and point: the iPod (mentioned in the article). It’s three times the price with half the features of some MP3s on the market. But Apple made the iPod’s primary task — playing music — remarkably easy to accomplish.