Link: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20015378-56.html

I didn't think Amazon had a chance against Apple until I saw this - apparently instead of the draconian drm that Apple gives away with their video - Amazon lets you do a heck of a lot with your stuff that you legally bought.

Amazon is selling some TV shows for the same price that Apple plans to charge for rentals.

A number of ABC and Fox shows, including hits like "Glee," are available on Amazon's service for 99 cents per episode--the same price as Apple's coming rental option. But with Amazon, the episodes can be downloaded or streamed and do not expire.
"When you buy a video, your viewing rights do not expire (except as provided in our Terms of Use)," Amazon states. "You can watch a video you own online and download it to 2 locations (TiVo, DVRs, and Windows PCs). You can also transfer a video you own to 2 portable devices.

While this does not apply to every movie or show - it's a goodly step towards what should be - simply when you buy something... it should be yours to do with as you will. Take a note Apple.

Link: http://mashable.com/2010/08/30/gmail-priority-inbox/

If you use Gmail and like many of us are flooded with mail check this out....

Priority Inbox is Google’s (Google) attempt to solve the e-mail woes of Gmail (Gmail) power users. At its core, the feature is an algorithm; Priority Inbox uses information such as keywords, the people you e-mail the most and your e-mail habits to select the most pressing e-mails in your inbox. Those e-mails are brought to the top of your Gmail and marked as important so you deal with them first.

Priority Inbox is also an adaptive algorithm. Marking items as important or unimportant teaches the system what types of messages you deem the most urgent.

Link: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/27051/use-email-to-send-text-messages-sms-to-mobile-phones-for-free/

Another great article from How To Geek -

Sometimes being able to send out a quick text message to someone you know would definitely be helpful. But what if you are at your computer and can not use your mobile phone? Just fire up your favorite email account and get that message out using the SMS Gateway addresses that we have collected together for you.

To use the SMS Gateway addresses shown here enter the 10 digit mobile phone number for the person you are sending a message to in front of the appropriate address (i.e. 1234567890@carrier.com).

Link: http://googlevoiceblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/make-and-receive-calls-in-gmail.html

Google just added voice calling from within Gmail - which is cool I suppose. I have yet to play around with it but maybe I'll get some extra time soon.

Link: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/easy-listening-pleasures-10-websites-free-audio-book-downloads/

Well, I thought I knew all of the places to get good free and legal audio books -but I was wrong.... which is a good thing as I'm on the last book of The Chronicles of Amber and I need some new material.

Link: http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/?ctid=307

If you want to hear whats going on in the emergency services world without buying a scanner - this is a great way to listen in. Support for all types of feeds - (I've linked to my area for example so if this appeals to you check out what scanner frequencies are available for your neck of the woods)

Link: http://www.designvitality.com/blog/2007/07/the-open-source-web-design-toolbox-100-tools-resources-and-template-sources/

There are some really good resources here for everyone from the beginner level to the more experienced web developers.

This pervasiveness of the open source spirit in web design now means that you can use open source software to design both graphics and your CSS and HTML, and you can also use the dozens of reliable open source code resources or thousands of web design templates to base your own designs on. In this article we highlight 100 open source web design templates, resources, and tools.

Link: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/24069/desktop-fun-lord-of-the-rings-customization-set/

How to Geek has the goods if you want to Tolkien up your PC

J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved Lord of the Rings series brought to life in the movies, then you will definitely want to look through our collection of wallpapers, icon packs, and fonts.

Remember - one does not simply install the font of Mordor

Link: http://www.youtube.com/user/expendables?v=sU6WOcXryIQ

You're gonna look at this and say "hey this is just You Tube" - but it isnt and for what it's worth its cool.

And now for something completely different....

Pretty good production from AMD - and you gear heads will immediately see where this is going.

Link: http://www.neatorama.com/2010/08/09/new-pencil-stays-erasable-for-3-days-then-turns-permanent/

Remember erasable pens? They were all the rage when I was in school. Writing instruments come full circle with this new invention from Sharpie....

The Sharpie Liquid Pencil contains an “ink” made from liquid graphite and lays it down just like a pen. Once written, you have three days to think on the validity and weight of your words. During this period you can erase it just like pencil-marks. After the three days is up, the pencil lines will turn to ink and remain inscribed forever.

You know you're gonna want to have a few of these when the school season starts or you will be tragically un hip.

Link: http://www.rounds.com/?icode=6br

Tired of Chatroulette? Maybe you just want to share some stuff with friends and family....

Rounds is a live meeting point. It's a truly unique, exciting and interactive online environment, offering users a variety of experiences that they enjoy together. Using a combination of webcams, real-time games, social activities and media engagements, we present a wide range of opportunities: from watching videos, playing real-time games, listening to music, facebooking and youtubing, to shopping together and beyond.

Rounds users meet their friends and friends to be, by inviting each other to 1 on 1 Rounds or by joining timed Rounds, where they are matched with other interesting new people based on common interests and share experiences together. Rounds is free for everyone to join and offers a safe place to have fun with friends and to meet new like-minded people.

Sounds pretty cool - Windows,Mac and Linux as it's all web based.

Link: http://www.mspot.com/

Awesome idea - good implementation.

Listen to your music at home, at work, at your friend's
Just open a web browser (IE, Safari, Chrome, Firefox) on PC or Mac and access your entire music collection.
Get your music on that smartphone
Our player app is smart too; it keeps playing in and out of network. Get music, cover art and lyrics instantly.
Effortlessly keep music updated across all your devices
Your smartphone and desktop browsers will automatically reflect changes in your songs and playlists. No wires. No hassle. Just music.

What's with washing machines becoming the next meme subject lately? This washer though needs to audition.

Way cool time lapse covering 5 years of ants taking over a scanner.

First crank it up to 11, then throw a cinderblock in... what could go wrong?

Link: http://www.geek.com/articles/news/google-earth-gets-real-time-weather-20100730/

Very nifty new layer for Google Earth.

Version 5.2 of the popular global mapping product delivers the real-time effects, allowing users to keep tabs on the progress of tropical storms or check out the current weather at their favourite weekend getaway before they embark on a long drive.
Users wanting to check if their location is covered by the real-time weather data should enable the radar and cloud layers.

Link: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/RIM-BlackBerry-6-OS-10-Reasons-Why-Apple-Needs-to-Worry-About-It-498299/

I'm getting real excited about the OS 6.0 update. It's apparently right around the corner and here's a bit more info to drool over in anticipation.

Just what you needed for a Friday.

Link: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/20610/desktop-fun-abstract-textures-wallpapers/

Another wallpaper resource from How To Geek.

Link: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Desktop-Enhancements/Icons-Related/Dark-Hard-Drive-Icons.shtml

Spruce up your icons with some new and spiffy looking icons from this pack.

Link: http://tiltshiftmaker.com/

If you're unfamiliar with Tilt Shift - it's the process of modifying an image to make it appear toy like (see image below)

This site lets you turn your own photos into tilt shifted ones - I gotta try this out on some of my recent vacation shots.

This is actually pretty cool - Funnny or die pays the signing star to wear a disguise and sing her own songs in a Karaoke bar.

My lad submitted this one - Thanks Cedar!

Link: http://8bc.org/

This place has more chiptunes than you can shake a stick at - don't believe me? Go try and shake a stick at it.

Link: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/20578/desktop-fun-dragons-wallpaper-collection/

Feel like having a dragon on your desktop this week? How To Geek has a bunch for ya.

Link: http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/706099/Game-Development-Toolset-Stencyl-Making-The-Big-Leap-Towards-Flash.html

It's one thing to say "hey, world, I could make a kick ass video game" and quite another to actually go and make the thing. The biggest obstacle remains the technical barrier to entry, as games require extensive coding knowledge, the ability to draw things better than stick figures (most of the time, anyway) and other bases of knowledge that can't be learned overnight. The web-based Stencyl is one of many companies who attempts to make that easier for the amateur developer, and the company recently told us about a slew of improvements coming to Stencyl, including support for Flash.

Link: http://slodive.com/design/best-websites-to-have-fun-with-your-pics/

...today we are presenting 12 Best Free Sites for editing your photos and thus getting you more reasons to smile.

Link: http://www.toplessrobot.com/2010/07/magnetic_silly_putty_will_haunt_your_dreams.php

In one of the creepier new toy developments, there is now Magnetic Thinking Putty on the market. It costs $13.50 and is like classic silly putty, except that it is magnetic and somewhat unnerving. The above video features time-lapse footage of the putty slowly devouring a magnet.

Link: http://i.imgur.com/lCELt.png

You know, it's really rare these days to see a game company who hates DRM and responds like this - I played the game and all round I really support these guys.

[Wolf] emailed us to show us his Self destructing Hard Drive tutorial. He’s using thermite, like we did, but he’s put a little more effort into the delivery system. In the video, you can see a huge spray molten iron. This is because his “jet”, the block of wood hollowed out to focus the thermite on to the hard drive didn’t hold a seal at the top. Not too bad for try #1.

Just where do people get this stuff?

Link: http://www.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=13420

The AP has gone after websites that featured it's content - which is lame enough but to make matters worse they did the exact thing to Woot that they don't want other people to do to them. Nicely done!

But when we found your little newsy thing you do, we couldn’t help but notice something important. And that something is this: you printed our web content in your article! The web content that came from our blog! Why, isn’t that the very thing you’ve previously told nu-media bloggers they’re not supposed to do?

Boom headshot!

Link: http://www.windowsfordevices.com/c/a/News/Microsoft-InstaLoad/

Check this out...

Microsoft announced a hardware solution that will allow users of portable devices -- digital cameras, flashlights, remote controls, toys, you name it -- to insert their batteries in any direction. Compatible with AA and AAA cells, among others, the patented "InstaLoad" technology does not require special electronics or circuitry, the company claims.

How cool is that? Now if only they could apply that type of thinking to Windows