Take Al Gore, Gore Vidal, or Vidal Sassoon. Would any of these gentlemen have turned as successful had their parents picked less recognizable names for them?

Likely. After all, how do you explain the success and phenomenon around someone named Arnold Schwarzenegger or Gisele Bundchen?

Clearly, it’s not about one’s given name, but how you manage to *live*it: fill it with life, meaning and gestalt. To put it into today’s social media speak, it’s about how you create the brand of you!

But what happens if social media turns into the new go-to engine for parents eager to hone in on the ultimate name for their kid? What happens if the über-popular engagement platform begins to not just promote but indeed shape parents’ decisions on what to name their kids?

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Our collective clock is ticking. Before year’s end, we’ll be a record 7 billion people co-habitating planet earth. One way or another this presents all of us with unprecedented challenges and opportunities.

With that in mind, the United Nations Population Fund recently started looking to Social Media, to see what this new digital platform can do to help raise both general awareness and individual actions in response to our looming population crisis.

So what exactly can digital media add to this tremendous cause?

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Try sitting at a restaurant and not follow the over-the-bar TV. Try taking your office building elevator and not focus on the in-car monitor. Even at my local barber shop, a sizable flat screen TV is constantly running, with videos routinely cutting into if not suppressing actual conversation.

Add to that screens at home, at work, inside stores and your favorite local bodega. Frankly, I probably encountered plenty more digital screen today if only I hadn’t been busy, well, looking at another screen.

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The Honorable Justice Clarence Thomas has been a judge on the U.S. Supreme Court since 1991. The last time his voice was heard during proceedings was five years ago. According to court manuscripts, he has since not asked any in-court questions or engaged in dialog while on the bench.

According to the Pew Research Institute, young online audiences seem to be taking a similar approach.

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Former MSNBC political show host Keith Olbermann has just announced his new show will air on Current TV.

No secret – I have long been a fan of Current TV.

The S.F.-based (partially) user-generated cable programmer has long been on the forefront of innovative journalism.  Side by side viewer-created short “pod” submissions, Current has its own group of young vanguard journalists. Audiences help to determine at least part of what’s to air, most of which then gets plenty viral distribution up and down the participatory Web.

Next in, Keith Olbermann will be the first veteran broadcasters to join the citizen journalist crew.

It should be interesting to see if and how Mr. Olbermann and Current TV’s participatory media will blend to something greater than the sum of the individual parts.

AOL just paid $315 million for ‘uber blog’ The Huffington Post. Social network giant Facebook seems worth $50 billion. And global media powerhouse News Corp. relies on what’s likely the world’s most popular consumer electronics designer, Apple, as their next exclusive content distributor.

Clearly, the face and valuation of media continues to be in major flux.

In this highly dynamic environment, let’s see where Current and Olbermann can take things next.

Have you been to a book store lately? No, not online, not the virtual kind. I mean the real thing. The old-fashioned brick-and-mortar version. The real McCoy.

This past week I went book hunting up and down Manhattan. Apparently, I had forgotten exactly how tedious the process was compared to the comforting efficiency of an online shopping experience.

Well, five! store locations and several book-hunting hours later, I finally did walk away with my priced copies.

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Yup! It’s that time of the year again. I am headed for Las Vegas, to scan the halls of the #1 annual electronics bonanza – CES – short for Consumer Electronics Show.

Probably the key highlight for this year’s show – more electronics OEMs find religion in portable mobility. As far as exhibitors’ new devices announcements go, the excitement is virtually palpable.

Especially with 4G connectivity helping to better connect them all.

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Not sure yet what you would want for Christmas?

How about an Apple-designed car?

Yup! A vehicle created by the same company that managed to single-handedly re-invent your PC, your Walkman, your cell phone, laptop and VOD player.

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