Ah, America. Land of political WTF-ery. In one of the strangest foreign policy moves ever done during the Bush administration , the US government is trying to impose trade sanctions against North Korea, specifically against items that Kim Jong Il likes or which are gifted to him by loyalists.

What does the North Korean leader like, aside from platform shoes and bling-bling? Why, tech stuff and other assorted luxuries, of course. The Associated Press report says that, in addition to any new tech, such as iPods, PS3s and the like, they also want to ban just about everything else, even sports equipment (Kim compensates for his short stature with a love for basketball, apparently).

The AP article cites a lot of other items among those to be placed under trade sanctions:

But the list of proposed luxury sanctions, obtained by The Associated Press, aims to make Kim's swanky life harder: No more cognac, Rolex watches, cigarettes, artwork, expensive cars, Harley Davidson motorcycles or even personal watercraft, such as Jet Skis.

Now, let's get some perspective on this. The man makes secret nuclear tests in his country and the people under his rule suffer from food shortages. That's a result of rather selfish decisions on Kim's part, as well as a lack of foreign aid because no one really likes him for messing with nukes right now.

The plan, as "creative" as some of the supporters of the trade sanctions might think of it, would only push North Korea's world leader to use more money to purchase the same things through the black markets (or eBay). If the leader of nuclear-capable nation wants a PS3, why would you try a stunt like this to get him to listen to you?

Robert J. Einhorn, a former senior State Department official who once went to Korea, said of the plan, "It can't hurt, but whether it works, we don't know." Trust a gamer to tell you this plain and simple: if PS3 fanboys are willing to wait out in the cold for days to get a PS3, and grey market sellers don't mind shooting people for those goods, you are wrong in assuming it can't hurt.

Trying to look for a cost-effective way of getting the most out of your Mac's OS X?  Josh Pigford over at theappleblog brought together a list of his favorite top ten Mac apps, and we were thinking you'd want to hear about them too. Here they are:

ChronoSync
Made by Econ Technologies, this app is a handy backup/disk syncing tool that's sure to come in handy in case anything goes wrong with your unit. Think superduper with more features. Price: US$ 30.

Connoisseur
Little App Factory's app is a cooking recipe database that not only displays recipes fullscreen, but also dictates them like your favorite cooking cooking shows. Also check out the recipe community for more recipes to your taste. Price: US$ 20.

Democracy
For the vidcast viewers, this handy little app allows you to pile up your vidcasts into one manageable load, in a way working as an RSS feed reader. And the best part about this app and its growing directory is that it's a freebie.

DeskShade
For guys who like keeping their desktop spotless, MacRabbit's app is just the program to pick up, as it instantly hides all your messy desktop icons with one click of a hotkey, and also includes other handy features for your use. Price: US$ 12.95.

GarageSale
This app's for the Mac user tired of using eBay's uber-slow listing submission form. It's a full-featured client application for the eBay auction system, and should help not only speed up your auction posting, but also allows for a higher degree of customizability with its healthy assortment of templates and its compatibility with iPhoto. Price: US$ 29.99.

The rest of the apps after this jump!

Stuck in a dilemma between getting a Samsung Q1 and an Apple Newton? Well, the guys at CNET pitted those two against each other just for fun. The verdict? Read on.

Undeniably, Apple's Newton MessagePad 2007 has been around for quite some time - since 1997 to be exact. It features handwriting recognition, and touch-screen display plus a stylus, all packed in a simple design. It doesn't boast of a full color screen, but runs on an efficient and virtually virus-free OS.

The Samsung Q1, on the other hand, has a sleek, shiny look as opposed to the "industrialized" design of the Newton. Its screen has 16.7 million colors, so you would be able to watch your favorite movies here. It also has better networking capabilities and handwriting recognition than the Newton.

However, the Newton can run up to 30 hours with four AA batteries, which dealt the final blow on the Q1, which only runs for 2.5 hours. And while the latter costs £799, the decade-old Newton can be bought in eBay for £50.

So take your pick. If you're more into practicality, you might want to get a Newton. But if you're into sleek, modern gadgets, maybe you'd consider getting a Samsung Q1 instead.

If you think about it, at the rate manufacturers in general are going, updating their existing products or developing new ones, the technology that we knew maybe 2-3 months ago, has suddenly become obsolete. Now what to do with the "obsolete products" that we have acquired during the course of our tech life? Sure we can make a museum of it. Watch as it's price hit the roof because of it being a relic and make a killing over at eBay. Or we could dispose of them properly and send them off to a recycling plant.

Australia, lead by the Australian Information Industry Association, is a favorite among major computer-makers such as HP, Dell, and IBM, that already offer successful recycling programs in the land down under. But it seems like although Apple has began its global recycling initiative in 1996, with efforts in the US, Canada, Japan and Europe, the campaign has not started in Australia.

"Apple doesnÂ?t have a recycling program in Australia like we do in the U.S.; however, we are currently talking to the AIIA about creating a potential program,Â? said Apple spokesperson John Marks.

Griffith University electronic waste expert Sunil Heart said there are more than nine million computers in use around Australia, and this year a further 2.1 million computers will enter the market, while more than three million are expected to become obsolete. She hopes that there will be initiative from Apple to also make a computer take-back in that part of the globe.

If you've ever tried selling a product in eBay, then you also have experienced a lot of repeated questions from incessant potential buyers or those just curious about the item you're selling. The main problem is that with the sheer number of queries, it can't be helped that some of them would be exactly the same or just a different shade of the same question. If you're tired of just going through all that mail, this product from Hosted Support is for you.

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ezSupport for eBay will cost you $9.95 per month/support rep license. Just remember that faster responses lead to higher bids. If you're not yet convinced, you can sign up for ezSupport Lite, a free, introductory version of ezSupport for eBay by heading on to their registration page.

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It is being widely reported now that eBay, the Internet's "largest marketplace" is not taking too keen a view of selling pre-loaded iPods on its website. The company recently removed a listing for an Apple iPod loaded with over 11,000 songs, claiming copyright laws.

Cincinnati pediatrician Steve Brin, the person auctioning the device with a starting bid of $799 couldn't comprehend why he could not sell the iPod. Over the years, he claims to have spent an estimated $100,000 to buy the CDs he later ripped to his iPod, and thought it perfectly legal to auction off the iPod on eBay.

eBay, though didn't agree with that and yanked the item off.

"That is a copyright violation, one that we don't even need to hear from the rights owner about before removing," said eBay spokesman Hani Durzy, also referring to eBay's Replica and Counterfeit Items policy.

What do you guys think? Should he be allowed to sell his iPod without having someone claim copyright infringement? Or is it really illegal?

[Via, Web Pron News]

For all you daredevils out there, the weak need not apply, there is a tutorial floating on the net that shows you exactly how to beef up your Nano from a modest 4 gigabyte device to an impressive 8 gigabyte MP3 player.

First, a few things to clear up: no, this will not add more bulk to your Nano, it will stay exactly the same size and, yes, it will require a delicate hand, as soldering is absolutely essential. The mod is basically taking the memory from a non-working Nano that you can find on the cheap on Ebay and soldering it into a second slot already available on any 4 gig Nano. Pretty easy if you are a soldering master, can be dangerous if you're not.

I guess the spare circuitry also reveals Apple's previous and future plans of including even more memory options and a larger capacity to the Nano. Interesting, very interesting. That the author claims the Nano recognizes the extra storage space after being reset is strange but cool. Of course, if you lack the daring to fiddle around with your precious Nano, and can spare a few hundred bucks, the author is willing to do the mod for you.

Of course, iPod Updates takes no responsibility if you damage your Nano, as this has not been officially verified as working. Everyone else, please read this.

[Via, Multiarcade]