In relaying Time magazine's report about Japan's elder porn industry, we missed this item from yesterday, also from Time, about how the new 36 iPhone is going to be a hot bed for porn. The magazine reports an uptick in Google searches for "iPhone porn," even though Apple, officially, bans adult content from its offerings. So either: Time magazine really is on the cusp of cultural trends, or they're so desperate for newsstand readers and pageviews that they've resorted to the same link bait as most blogs.

Staffers at the Washington Post Co.'s Newsweek are supposedly upset at how many celebs the Time Inc.'s Time 100 attracts. Supposedly. [P6]

How many Barack Obama magazine covers can qualify as rip-offs this week? So far, our tally is at two.

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A Fox News production assistant, identified as Jennifer Locke, was axed when, on the red carpet, she blurted out to John McCain, "I voted for you in the primary, you're going to win." Replied the Republican candidate: "You're not supposed to reveal that." The entire incident was recorded on video. [TVN] Meanwhile, media baron Rupert Murdoch was seated two seats away from McCain, with just Time managing editor Rick Stengel between them. While McCain was named to the Time 100 list along with Hillary and Barack, how come he was the only one to show? Because he wanted to "bend" Murdoch's powerful ear, natch. [NYO] Such power bestowed a gentleman who, in fact, has never even been invited to the White House. [Gawker] [Photo: Time]

Perhaps the most eventful part of last night's Time 100 gala was the presence of newlyweds Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon, choosing Jazz at Lincoln Center to make their first public appearance together. Though she performed last night, she was also an honoree on the list, giving Rick Stengel the good fortune of naming her to the Time 100, and holding the event last night, to pick up the PR boon. How convenient, then, that Mariah and Nick also "gave" their exclusive wedding pics and interview to People, a Time Inc. cousin. Below, some red carpet video.

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Time’s annual list of the World’s 100 Most Influential People is out, and Tyler Perry, Jacob Zuma (president of the African National Congress), Chris Rock, Herbie Hancock, Mariah Carey, Mo Ibrahim (Sudanese-British mobile communications mogul), Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey made the cut. Check out the full list here. Who do you think was overlooked? Who doesn’t belong? All I know is, if one of the world’s most influential people is also the sort of person who marries a two-bit comedic actor/rapper after knowing him for a month, then I’m scared for the world.

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As Time unveils its list of 100 most influentials, the magazine also unveils the results of the poll it took that let average Americans choose someone they thought should be included on the list. After naming "You" its Person of the Year, Time has no choice but to let You participate in all of its important decision making. Fools. You named video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto to the top spot, evidence of an online voting conspiracy that rivals VoteForTheWorst.com. Runner-up Rain, the Korean pop sensation, ran 300,000 votes behind, meaning he'll have to rely on being named one of People's "Most Beautiful," in 2007, to get through the lonely nights ahead.

STATUS CHANGE Time.com Washington editor Ana Marie Cox leaked that she was leaving her post, to become a "contractor" for the magazine, by updating her Facebook status. "It’s a change in status, not a change in affiliation," says a Time spokesperson, but Facebook doesn't know the difference. [Calderone]

It's that time of year again: Time magazine is holding its annual publicity stunt known as the Time 100, where they'll anoint a centum's worth of notable folks at a ceremony that combines celebrities with excellent hor d'oeuvres. And because we're all Internet savvy these days, you were asked to vote on 200 finalists to narrow the list down to 100 of the most influential folks. Your clicks have persevered! Now we've 10X10 candidates in the running for the title of "Most Influential." Currently, Britney Spears is ranked an embarassing No. 2, topped only by Korean pop sensation Rain — "last year's landslide winner of this poll." [Time]

Time magazine's annual publicity stunt – choosing the "Person of the Year," a process that even Rick Stengel is tired of, but does it for the advertisers – isn't enough to keep the brand in your mind's eye, so they're letting you choose the worst Time covers EVER! (Or at least among the ones they've hand-selected.)

But don't consider their little act of self-deprecation as evidence they concern themselves with your opinion. Rather, they're interested in your pageviews: The "Worst Time Covers" voting-slideshow site is a dumping ground for clicks, as visitors make their way from 1928 to 2000.

It's also an excellent opportunity for Stengel to shit on his predecessors.

Are Americans dumber than Britons? Probably! Or, at least according to Jon Friedman's "Are You Smart Enough to Enjoy the Economist?" column today, it's true.

Jon says "the Economist's content may be too meaty for a country that once celebrated a show called Beavis and Butthead." Always edgy, that Friedman. Maybe next he'll tell us about that newfangled Jackass.

But he may have a point – *shudder* – when he says an American population accustomed to reading Time magazine might find The Economist more challenging: "Time's recent cover featuring actor George Clooney, titled 'The Last Movie Star,' probably suits the U.S. palate better than much of the Economist's standard fare."

Time just can't compete with The Economist's political coverage, even when it comes to American politics, which, and we're just riffing here, a British rag might face a steeper hill covering.

Take the Feb. 26th Democratic debate. The Economist has a fairly thorough, well-thought out piece that mentions the candidates' specific positions on Iraq, NAFTA, and health care, and discusses how many delegates each needs to win. And that's a web-only piece! Time had, well, this front-of-the-book report card blurb.

We're not letting Friedman totally off the hook, though. Comparing The Economist to Time is akin to comparing The Guardian to the New York Post. A fairer comparison would have been between The Economist and Harper's, which has found an American audience even in our our charticle-addicted, Clooney-loving nation.

Derogatory insults aimed at presidential candidates aren't just for women. This week, The Note founder Time scribe Halperin called Barack Obama a "pussy" (or surmised that's what John Edwards thought of him) on Barbara Walters’ Sirius satellite radio show. Now Halperin says he's sorry about the remark; he "used a word I shouldn’t have."

BAD TIME-ING Advertisers haven't been convinced by Time's new strategy of selling pages based on audience instead of circulation. A year after they began offering the option, fewer than the hoped-for 20 to 30 percent of clients have signed on. Time Group worldwide publisher Ed McCarrick refused to elaborate on just how many advertisers signed on, so you can imagine what that means.

COVER GLORY Time magazine awards Texas Monthly the honor of best magazine cover for 2007 for its National Lampoon-mocking Dick Cheney issue. New York came in fourth, but only because they resorted to technicolor.

KLEIN-STEIN Radar's John Cook on crumbling Time columnist Joe Klein: "There is no better conceivable foil than he for the blogocentric criticism that the political journalism establishment is populated by preening, clueless, lazy, and pompous regurgitators of conventional wisdom." [Radar]