Christian Commercialism at its best.

Jesus.

A perfume priding itself as “The World’s First Spiritual Perfume," apparently takes the scents from the Bible and puts them in a bottle of the oh-so-holy “Virtue.” Because spending the $80 per bottle will make you a true Christian woman!

Read more.

HD DVD Battle Stakes Digg Against Futility of DRM

After initially complying with a cease-and-desist order to remove posts citing the encryption key for the HD DVD format, the site was deluged with protests and Rose quickly reversed course. But the outpouring of nerd outrage has continued, and Digg has suddenly found itself leading the charge against the full might of the movie studios, even as it fends off sellout charges from its own members.

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Posts citing the offending code, the hexadecimal series "09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0" that unlocks AACS encryption used on HD DVDs, have multiplied across the web.

Read all about the lawsuits and the fight agains DRM here.

Avoiding ads with TiVo? Not these, TiVo hopes

Because damn it, you are to buy shit!

The holy grail on Madison Avenue these days is to create advertising that is "TiVo-proof"--compelling enough to owners of digital video recorders that they will watch the commercials rather than zip past them when replaying recorded programs.

Read more about how they want to steal your money here.

The marketers have your ear

Isn't this wonderful?

Marketers around the world are using innovative audio technology that sends sound in a narrow beam, just like light, making it possible to direct messages right into consumers' ears while they shop or sit in waiting rooms.

A little eerie? Possibly. However, it is being spun as:

The flat disk speakers with precision targeting have made sound possible in unlikely places -- from Boston's Museum of Fine Arts to the New York Public Library -- and are increasingly attractive to merchants trying to improve the shopping experience with a peaceful environment.

But we all know the real reason:

"Advertisers look to capture people -- especially when they are in the buying mood," said Tim Bilgor , chief executive of Innovative Media Solutions in London, which has installed the audio spotlight in Istanbul and Madrid airports, in shopping malls in China, and in the showrooms of Fiat car dealerships, where messages about product features are beamed to consumers as they approach the cars.

Is psychology at play here in order to get us to buy more shit? I'm thinking if there's not, then there soon will be.

So, do you like this idea?

PC buyers aim to cut the 'crapware'

Businesses have been doing this for years:

When large businesses buy new PCs, they often wipe the hard drives clean and install a fresh copy of Windows, along with the other software they want workers to have.

Now, some consumers are wanting to do the same thing after they purchase a new PC.

However, what works for businesses isn't always so easy for individuals. Many computers don't actually come with a clean copy of the operating system. Instead, many ship with a "recovery partition" or a recovery disc that restores the system back to the way it shipped--with all that extra software.

As Bill Shanner put it:

"I'm willing to accept that it comes with junk and I'm willing to clean it up," said Bill Shanner, a self-described "senior-citizen engineer" who has seven laptops and at least a half dozen desktops. "The thing that aggravates me is having to buy a second copy of an operating system. If you pay for something, you ought to get what you pay for."

But...

Some analysts have said that they also expect PC makers to begin experimenting with offering clean PCs--ones without any added trial software or other preinstalled programs. Customers may have to pay extra, though, to offset the fact that PC makers make money from many of the programs they add to a new PC's hard drive.

And yes, as always, it is about the money.