Okay, I admit it: I’m becoming obsessed with FriendFeed groups. They’re my new favorite Web thing for consolidating news and information.

Check out the groups I’ve created; they consolidate news feeds about business, politics, copywriting, humor, tech, Bruce Springsteen and more. If you’re on FriendFeed too, you may want to subscribe to them. Enjoy!

In case you missed the news: Facebook recently acquired FriendFeed. You can read about it on FriendFeed’s official blog.

In case you haven’t played with FriendFeed at all, you should. I think one of its most appealing elements is as an alternative to Protopage or Google Reader, a place where you can consolidate feeds on any subject you like, for example: marketing, copywriting and Bruce Springsteen.

I don’t know how I missed this Internet meme, but it’s all over YouTube: Take about three minutes of a scene from Der Untergang (The Downfall), add your own subtitles and hilarity ensues.

Hitler’s first Springsteen show is pitch-perfect to any fan of The Boss, but there are tons of these videos out there, many of them Web-related: Hitler gets banned from Wikipedia, No Twitter for Hitler, Hitler Gets Scammed on eBay and, of course, Hitler Finds Out He’s A Joke on YouTube.

As you might imagine, though, these videos cover all sorts of subjects: Hitler gets betrayed in a game of Risk, finds out there’s no Santa, doesn’t like the new Star Trek movie … there’s no end to the fun you can have with Hitler’s anger!

Want current events? Here’s one in which Hilter learns that Sarah Palin has resigned.

And if you’re looking for one Downfall video to sum them all up, it’s probably this one.

It’s a good time to be a Bruce Springsteen fan. New album. Super Bowl halftime show a week from today. Tour dates starting to be announced. Another Rolling Stone cover story.

That cover story includes this quote from Springsteen: “I’m not interested in the solipsistic approach to songwriting. I don’t want to tell you all about me. I want to tell you about you.”

I like that quote a lot. It speaks to a big part of why Springsteen endures long after so many of the self-absorbed rock stars who populated the charts with him in the ’80s have faded into the “Where are they now?” category. His songs aren’t about himself, they’re about all of us. Like much great art, the best of them are open to multiple complex interpretations.

That quote reflects a philosophy that works well in business generally and marketing communications in particular. Or should, anyway. Sadly, too many companies ignore that philosophy.

When you visit a company’s Web site, do you want to know about the company, or do you want to know about what the company is going to do for you?

When you’re developing your marketing communications, are you focusing on what the company wants to say, or what the customer (and potential customer) wants to know?

They may seem like subtle distinctions, but they’re not. Understanding them is, I believe, a crucial ingredient to success today.

Takeaway for marketers: Reject corporate solipsism. Focus like a laser on the customer.

All kinds of reports this week, from AdAge to Daily Breeze to Countdown and others talking about the Honda Civic Musical Road.

It’s a stretch of road in California grooved in such a way that when you drive it at exactly 55 miles per hour you hear the William Tell Overture. Check out the YouTube video and judge for yourself.

Like so many new technologies, this one has a long way to go. But when they figure it out, imagine the possibilities: You’re driving along Route 66 and you hear … well, the “Theme from Route 66.” Maybe you’re headed down to the Jersey shore to hit the casinos and your tires start playing Springsteen’s “Atlantic City.” There are probably countless stretches of highway where Duane Eddy’s “40 Miles of Bad Road” would be appropriate.

But imagine if they really figure out this technology in a way that takes it all a few steps further so that words, not just sounds, could be created. Those rumble strips on the side of the road could scream, “Wake up, idiot!” Anyone driving 40 miles an hour in the fast lane could be told in no uncertain terms how they’re holding up traffic. The possibilities are endless!

Residents nearby have reportedly been complaining about the sounds and the road is being paved over today. No wonder our economy is tanking — American vision just isn’t what it used to be.