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The UK's Performing Rights Society - a collections agency for the music industry - is hitting a small community center with steep fees for letting children sing Christmas carols on its premises. The society's US counterpart ASCAP once came after the Girl Scouts for singing camp songs, but public outraged put a stop to this.

The New York Times has meanwhile learned that free is beautiful, enjoying a massive surge in its global reach since eliminating subscription fees to access popular content.

Nintendo's Wii is the UK's hottest Christmas gadget - causing the altruists at Nintendo to pull Christmas advertising, lest they taunt British children with visions of Wii's they can't have. The tormenting ads will continue in the US, where stodgy old DVD's may soon lose retail shelf space to hot new games.

Apple is also doing just fine, thanks. 29% of consumers who are contemplating near-term computer purchases are now leaning toward the Mac.

If all this makes Steve Jobs too busy to hang out with you this holiday season, you might be able to catch up with his doppelganger at the Epcot center. Or is that some other famous Apple co-founder named Steve?

RadioHead will no longer let fans name their own price for In Rainbows. No one knows who paid what for the album, but Comscore has made some controversial guesses. Physical editions will ship soon.

Looks like advertisers may forgive Facebook over the Beacon kafuffle. Meanwhile, you can mock Beacon (and yourself) by creating your own faux Beacon announcements.

Rival social network LinkedIn is meaning while getting a facelift. Their new BusinessWeek app is pretty cool.