Free PDF eBooks - 1-10:

"Planet PDF is now offering an assortment of some of the most popular classics -- free! Help yourself to them, and feel free to share them with your friends."

Groove armada: 5 MP3 players previewed : "which model exudes enough mass-market mojo to topple Apple's uber toy from the top of the MP3 roost? You be the judge." (mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm - gadgets)

eBay auction for a song bought from the iTunes music store
Very interesting testing of law: Does the Right of First Sale Still Exist?

[This guy] just posted an eBay auction for a song I bought from the iTunes music store. It should be interesting to see how this works out. I only spent $0.99 on it but I bought the song just as legally as I would a CD, so I should be able to sell it used just as legally right?"

Very Funny and spot on satire: The Onion | Tanzania Loses Name To Tanning-Salon Chain

Dumping the wrinklies causing massive hi tech problem
Interesting article on "Institutional Memory", and the loss of knowledge caused through wholesale outsourcing of key customer services. I came across a (very tiny) example of this at work recently, where turnover of staff in a small department over a couple of years meant a steady incremental decline in skills/knowledge for a specific semi-technical job, resulting in nobody who really knew the capabilities of the technology in use. I also just had a "courtes ycall" from BT, a very polite chap in New Dehli. I chatted to him briefly about the whole outsourcing thing, and wondered if he was aware of Indian outsoucers losing out to "even cheaper" places, like the former Eastern Europeans (like Poland). He said he was aware of competetion from the Philippines, but not Eastern Europe. I think that there's a lot of very stupid short-termism involved in the kind of management thinking which doesn't value customer service staff, and generally agree with the points raised in the article.
Related Links:

Earlier item on "the new paradigm of the support economy" and "Deep Support"
Infrastructure can't match business boom in India's high-tech city

We are all time wasters now [potential audience for distractions blog growing ?]

One in three small business owners and managers are setting a bad example to their workforce by wasting time on the internet and sending humorous emails rather than working. " Link

ZDNet UK - Special Reports - Hot (spot) in the city - a Wi-Fi tour of London
"Wi-Fi hot spots are springing up around London. ZDNet UK's intrepid reporters set out to find out if the services live up to the frothy hype."

Viruses, Worms & Malware:
Good article here for non-techies wanting to better understand the various PC/Internet worms and viruses etc threatening our world:
PC protection for procrastinators "DON'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT BIG ATTACK TO DEFEND YOURSELF"

RSS, News feed Aggregation
After reading some articles a couple of weeks ago:

• Silicon Valley - Dan Gillmor's eJournal - RSS Hitting Critical Mass
  
• Wired News: Aggregators Attack Info Overload

I have been experimenting with RSS Applications (read the articles for a good intro to RSS). Curently I've settled on Bloglines, which a simple browser based tool (free subscription required). I also tried a couple of the tools mentioned in the articles (newsmonster & amaphetadesk), however the simplicity of the bloglines service is winning (and no installation needed on your PC).

More comment on pay-for online content. Readers 'can't pay, won't pay' for content
[See earlier item]

RollingStone.com: "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" - Discuss...

Friday Funnies:

Suggested by Minos: City of Los Angeles High School Math Proficiency Exam. I think this is actually quite old, but still funny... i seem to remember a similar UK version, spun for Madchester.

I liked this: Dell Patents "Reboot and See If That Fixes It" Tech Support Process
Round Rock, TX - Dell announced that they had been granted a patent for the 'reboot and see if that fixes it' technical support process, which they pioneered.
'We're really taking our cue from other industries,' said CEO Michael Dell. 'The American Medical Association patented the 'let's see if that hurts tomorrow' treatment plan and General Motors patented the 'turn it off and start it up again' fixing process for automobiles.'"

Bowie covers Sigue Sigue Sputnik Shock!

DB has chosen to cover Sigue Sigue Sputnik's 1986 #3 hit, Love Missile F1-11.
New Killer Star DVD Only Single Tracklisting
01 New Killer Star Video
02 Love Missile F1-11 (Audio Only)
03 Reality EPK Video
New Killer Star is released on Iso/Columbia Records September 29th - Reality is released on Iso/Columbia Records September 15th.

More info at Bowie News

The Observer - 10 best sports photographs some great photos and nice explanations.

Internet FAQ Archives: "This archive contains Usenet Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) postings in HTML format and in text format."

Stumbled accross this...Aug 27 Demonstrations against EU Software Patent Plans and signed the petition. Scary stuff, looks like some seriously stupid patent laws have been proposed. take a look.

No excuses needed to link to www.shuttleworths.co.uk. If you don't know John Shuttleworth, then get acquainted !

West Ham
I'm left feeling pretty cold by the shameful antics at my favourite club. Seems to be a very poorly and mis-managed operartion. To see the squad of fine young talent decimated, and the club operating so close to financial disaster is very sad.
At least St Trevor is back in charge of the team for a while.... I'm just praying we don't get George Graham for manager (can you imagine) !
Best coverage I've found (beyond the mainstream papers & BBC) is over at this fan site: Knees Up Mother Brown.

Nice amusingly curmudgeonly article by Martin Kelner on the guardian football site (mentions PC viri, the new football season, living in Yorkshire and the recent radio5 ads which have been airing on BBC TV) - could almost be me writing it !

Site about nothing - Page of Everything
Suggested by Lou.... nice idea, if only life were really so simple... maybe it is....? :-)