Creative Commons, a non-profit organization founded in 2001 to encourage copyright reform and provide a legally-sound licensing framework for works that could be freely redistributed, raised more than $500,000 in its latest fundraising campaign, despite the economic downturn.

Ars technica calls Creative Commons one of the most prominent organizations involved in the free culture movement, pointing out that the Creative Commons licenses and file metadata scheme are increasingly popular and have been adopted by a diverse group of artists and writers ranging from the music group Nine Inch Nails to science fiction novelist Charles Stross.

The Creative Commons mission is to encourage creators to allow for legal sharing, remixing, and reusing of their works.  The organization provides free tools that let authors, scientists, artists, and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry.

Ars technica says that the mission is more relevant than ever, and the support of donors “reflects growing recognition of the need for copyright reform and the value of unencumbered sharing.”

How to Do Everything with PDF Files
Leave it to Amit Agarwal for “digital inspiration” when it comes to Adobe PDF.  Here’s a guide to “doing everything,” using a variety of PDF apps, ranging from how to create PDF documents without Adobe Acrobat, to using PDF Unlocker to remove common restrictions on a PDF file.

Wiki it up with 100 more tools
Mashable previously brought us 30 apps in their first Wiki Toolbox.  Now here are 100 more to cover almost anything wiki in your life.

Best of 2008 recap
Finally, Lifehacker rounds up their “best of best” posts in case we missed anything previously.

You’ll find the best new and improved software, most popular Linus posts, how-to features, free Windows and Mac downloads, and more.

Wired states that in 2008, corporate and academic R&D labs laid the foundations for some amazing future technologies such as silicon chips you can swallow.  The chips send a signal to an external patch that monitors vital parameters such as heart rate, temperature, state of wakefulness or body angle.  The top ten tech developments are featured in the post.

Thin flexible displays could change how we deal with many devices — cellphones and ebook readers, for instance.  Plus, read about advances in flash memory, GPS, the Android OS, and a major update to USB 3.0 increasing speeds to 4.8 gigabits per second by mid-2009.

Products in 2008 were less innovative than were research efforts, but showed incremental improvements with 3G speeds for cellphones, drag-resistant swim suit materials that increase a swimmer’s speed, and SLR cameras capable of recording standard-definition video to HD.

The technology breakthroughs are explained, along with the outlook for future developments, in this post.

Top 100 Web products
Compiling posts featuring the “top 10″ web products in a variety of categories, Read/WriteWeb has put together their 2008 list of top 100 products.

They are listed in alpha order and provide links to the product.  Ranging from Adobe Air, as a top platform, to Zoho, an online suite of products with an appeal for businesses, you’ll find some familiar names and some not so well known.

Top Tech Tips of 2008, Part 1
PC Magazine experts offer tips throughout the year to help us manage a number of tech problems.  They have pulled together some of the most useful ones in this post, with plans to follow up with another group soon.

The tips come from the archives of their Tip of the Day newsletter.  These 50 tips include how to wipe a hard drive, the best free software, Google tips and tricks, and 47 more.

 A New York Times article ponders the question of whether readers are more willing to switch from paper to pixels.  The popularity of the Kindle: Amazon’s Wireless Reading Device(especially after Oprah declared it one of her favorite devices) is apparent, being out of stock currently for the second time since it was introduced.

The Sony ebook reader is ready to take up the slack.  “The perception is that e-books have been around for 10 years and haven’t done anything,” said Steve Haber, president of Sony’s digital reading division. “But it’s happening now. This is really starting to take off.”

Although ebooks are a very small slice of the book market, sales have tripled or quadrupled in the last year.  Amazon has not revealed its sales figures, but has noted that many Kindle buyers appear to be outside the usual gadget loving demographic.  Almost as many women as men are buying it, and the device is most popular among 55- to 64-year-olds.  The use of easy-to-read eInk and the ability to select font sizes may be factors.

“E-books will become the go-to-first format for an ever-expanding group of readers who are newly discovering how much they enjoy reading books on a screen,” said Markus Dohle, chief executive of Random House, the world’s largest publisher of consumer books.

Roku has announced two free updates  to its Internet-enabled Netflix movie-streaming set-top box.

The initial update adds advanced compression capable of streaming HD video over average consumer broadband connections, while the second (expected during the first quarter of 2009) will add A/V streaming from sources other than Netflix (e.g. YouTube, Hulu, Comedy Central, MSNBC, etc.).

Roku has competition from other providers of Internet-based video-on-demand STBs, such as Blockbuster’s STB, Syabas’s Popcorn Hour (aka NMT), AppleTV, and others.[via Slashdot]

The latest OpenOffice suite – 3.0 – has gotten a full thumb drive packaging by the PortableApps.com team, reports Lifehacker.

It’s a Windows-only, free, open-source suite, good for those who want to take it with them on a USB drive, or those who want to test the new features of version 3.0 without a full download to their PC.

This OpenOffice version has also been rolled into the full PortableApps collection, a customizable, menu-launched package of handy tools for road warriors.

If you haven’t experienced the luxury of thumb drive apps you will be interested to know that PortableApps.com Suite™ includes those listed below, all preconfigured to work portably.  Just drop it on your portable device.

• OpenOffice.org Portable* (office suite}, including Writer (word processor), Calc (spreadsheet), Impress (presentations), Base (database utility), Draw (drawing),
• Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition (web browser)
• Mozilla Thunderbird, Portable Edition (email)
• Mozilla Sunbird, Portable Edition (calendar/tasks)
• ClamWin Portable (antivirus)
• Pidgin Portable (instant messaging)
• Sumatra PDF Portable (PDF reader
• KeePass Password Safe Portable (password manager
• Sudoku Portable (game)
• Mines-Perfect Portable (game)
• CoolPlayer+ Portable (audio player)

Speculation that T-Mobile is coming out with a new Android-powered phone as early as January 26th abounds after an initial post from Cellphone Signal.

First Cellphone Signal posted about a “cupcake” update  to the G1 which went on sale in late October.  They said to look for new features like mms and video capability.

Then they announced a new T-Mobile G2 which would include most of the features missed by those who purchased the G1.  The full list looks like everybody’s wishes rolled into one:

• Android OS
• 3G capable (where available)
• Full touch screen
• Enterprise capable
• WiFi capable (no word about UMA)
• 5 megapixel camera with aoutofocus and flash
• Address book
• Calculator
• Calendar
• EDGE and GPRS
• Games
• Instant messaging
• Megatones, HI-Fi tones and wallpapers
• Memory card Slot (up to 16GB)
• Mobile backup
• Music and video player
• Phone book
• Photo caller ID
• Picture messaging
• Real web browsing
• Speakerphone
• Speed dial
• Stereo Bluetooth connectivity (finally)
• Sync with PC (better than air sync)
• Task list
• USB interface
• Video capture and playback
• Video messaging
• Voice dialing
• myFaves capable and T-Zones

Google has added new choices to its “any content” drop-down menu for image searches allowing you to choose the style of image you want: news, faces, clip art, line drawing, photo content.

Previously face and photo styles were the only search limitations available.

I know a lot of libraries, librarians and educators use Meebo for instant messaging, and now the service just got better.

You can sign into major IM networks like AIM, Yahoo, and MSN simultaneously, and now you can also add Facebook and MySpace, “essentially giving you a universal buddy list that you can access from anywhere,” says Mashable.

The folks at Meebo note that the new networks are being rolled out over the course of the day and urge you to click that “sign on to more accounts” link.

By adding MySpace and Facebook, Meebo solves the previous problems of separate buddy lists and the need to be logged into the social networks.  Not only is it not necessary to download Meebo, there is a Firefox add-on for it.