China Renews Google’s License

Despite the cat and mouse game that’s been revolving around Google and the Chinese government, the Chinese have renewed Google’s “Internet License” (which allows them to operate in China). (via GigaOm)

IKEA Announces an End to Sale of Incandescent Lightbulbs

The Swedish mega-furniture retailer IKEA, has announced that it plans to end the sale of incandescent lightbulbs in the US, by January of 2011. Instead, the retailer will begin offering a halogen lightbulb that fits into existing incandescent sockets, and provides a similar warm light. These new “retro-fit” bulbs will enter onto store shelves in the fall. (via Inhabitat)

Access Hulu From Outside the US

A new method to access Hulu.com from outside the United States -without a proxy- is sure to be blocked soon, but it’s working for the moment. This clever work around requires Firefox, a Firefox extension, and a few blocked ports. The full writeup is available at Lifehacker.

YouTube Launches “Leanback”

YouTube has launched a new “Leanback” service. In short, Leanback will automatically play videos it thinks you’re interested it, based on your subscriptions, and what friends of yours have liked. The few videos I watched were rather “meh”, but I suspect the experience will vary widely for people, depending on who you have as friends, and what you’re subscribed to. (via Lifehacker)

Phone Disk is Free until September

MacroPlant’s “Phone Disk“, a program that mounts your iOS devices (iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches) as native volumes you can browse in the Finder, is being offered for free – until September 1st. Free copies will work and receive updates after the date passes, but you have to grab your copy and register it before that happens. (via Lifehacker)

Hint: Use Colour to Obscure Text

A fairly basic hint, for those who might wish to hide text on their screens. Turn the colour of the text to match the background, and you can quickly select and deselect it to see what it says – reducing the chance that some nosy co-worker around you can walk by and steal all your passwords. Not perfect, not ideal, but something if you use a normal file/spreadsheet to manage your passwords. (via Mac OS X Hints)

Time Lapse of the TWiT Studio Being Re-Lit

A cool time lapse video of the TWiT (Leo Laporte’s podcasting network) studio having its lighting overhauled. The video is on Leo’s blog, here.

FireFox 4 Enters Pre-Beta

The nightly builds for FireFox -cleverly named “Minefield”, to remind people of just how bleeding edge they are in the dev. process- have entered into version 4. Among being generally more zippy and amazing, there’s now an option to have tabs on top, which I promptly turned off (it looks quite horrid in OS X). You can find the nightly builds here. (via Lifehacker).

Johnson’s Backyard Garden has a new logo

The folks over at Brand New have another great writeup on an identity change by the Texan organic grower, Johnson’s Backyard Garden. Head over here to check it out.

Music and Workflow

The wonderful guys and gals of Smashing Magazine have written an interesting piece on integrating music into a workflow, to create mood. In brief, it talks about how music can create and set a mood, which is useful when you can link to something your doing (it’s especially relevant to designers and artists). The article is here.

Past and Future of the Logo

Again from Smashing Magazine, Dan Redding has written an excellent argument on the logo and its relation to branding. It’s far too nuanced to quickly summarize, and is well worth the read. So, check it out.

The Illegal Essay Writers

The CityPages newspaper has an interesting look into the world of “third party” essay writers, the people who write essays for students, in return for monetary compensation. Definitely interesting, and definitely a bit shady. Article is here.

Tesla Announces Updates to “Roadster” Model

Alec Farmer’s Microhouse Replica – via Inhabitat

“Alec built it himself and is planning to live in it – off grid – for 1 year in Glasgow, Scotland to learn more about micro-architecture and sustainable living.”

11 Sangria Recipes – Stepcase Lifehack

“The idea behind sangria is simple: Take some wine and add nice things to it until you can’t resist pouring it all over ice and enjoying with friends. Of course, some recipes call for extra time in the fridge and most can be consumed by yourself.”