February 12 - 3:30pm EST   YouTube this afternoon said it would start testing purchasable downloads of videos from its website. The company has previously offered free downloads of videos from a handful of providers but is now experimenting with a system that would let companies put a price on permanent copies. While every payment would go through Google Checkout, video owners would have say over the prices and could have licenses varying from a strictly private-only license to Creative Commons rights for modification and sharing as well as a completely open public domain option. [full story]

May 27 - 6:00am EDT   VIA this morning set out its version of the future for micro notebooks with the OpenBook. The 8.9-inch portable is the sequel to last year's NanoBook and earns its name through its uniquely open-source chassis. Unlike most stock designs, the blueprints for the outer panels are put under a liberal Share Alike version of the Creative Commons license: this lets third-party PC makers freely remake the outside of the notebook without the trouble of negotiating for a license. The shift will give many companies a unique PC of their own that gets to market for less money and more quickly than rivals, VIA hopes. [full story]