Strange New World: Tech Picks of the Week

March 21, 2008 — -- This week it's strange upon strange here in the world of technology. Eliot Spitzer's not-so-excellent affair took a high-tech twist: his paramour is now an overnight digital rock star — no Simon, Paula or the fat guy needed.

And local broadcast blackouts of online streaming video of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament are being replaced by another online obfuscation: businesses saying "nyet" to net video at work. If there is not a constitutional amendment defending our right to watch undergraduates play basketball while we work, there really should be. In the meantime, feel free to share our techno-workarounds for staying tourney savvy without leaving your desk.

Plus, social networking has gone international. Want to know where Russian hotties go to face off online? Read on down.

Here are our picks for the top tech stories of the week.

You've no doubt heard all the lurid details about the New York ex-governor's dalliance with the call girl he reportedly paid more than $4,000 for a few hours of her "time." But did you know that in the few days after the news broke she became a millionaire musician?

Oh yeah, before you shed a tear for this girl's smeared reputation, check this out: The courtesan/budding pop princess has two of her songs on the music site Amiestreet.com, where they are available for purchase for 98 cents each.

She casually mentioned this in an interview and, 24 hours later, the songs had been reportedly downloaded more than 2 million times (and counting). Because of the way the site is set up, she will receive 70 percent of the total profit. That's well up seven figures, for those of you scoring at home.

Attention struggling musicians, I think we have a new playbook for you to follow. Get infamous, upload your tracks to Amiestreet.com, and reap the profit.

March Madness is our favorite sporting event of the year, but for some reason employers don't appreciate their workers watching it on company time. Something about how they lose billions in productivity during the first two days of the NCAA basketball tournament due to TV watching while working.