Daily Tidbits: Beatles songs now available for free

Beatles fans can now download the Fab Four's tracks legally for free. But there's one catch: they can only do it by subscribing to, and downloading, a podcast from Norwegian Broadcasting. According to a deal inked by the organization late last year, Norwegian Broadcasting can offer podcasts containing music as long as no more than 70 percent of the entire duration of the show contains music. Using that to its advantage, the organization has started offering daily podcast episodes that feature a three-minute discussion about an individual Beatles track and the actual recording of that track subsequent to the discussion. The podcast is available for free by subscribing via iTunes.

Israel Defense Forces has launched a YouTube channel containing bombing footage, surveillance video, and daily updates about the movements of Israeli forces on the ground. The channel's official description says the videos are made available to show "documentation of the IDF's humane action and operational success in Operation Cast Lead."

PropertyRoom.com, an online auction site that works with law enforcement agencies to sell previously stolen merchandise, announced Monday that it witnessed a significant upswing in traffic over the holiday season as shoppers were using online auction sites to find better deals on goods. According to the company, it welcomed over 1 million visitors in December, representing a 35 percent increase over the previous year. It also saw a 25 percent revenue increase over December 2007.

Amazon announced Monday that it has partnered with Roku to deliver video-on-demand services through the hardware company's Netflix set-top box. Amazon said over 40,000 titles will be made available for the Roku Netflix box and will cost the same price--around $3.99--as titles currently offered on Amazon's page. Amazon's films will be available on the box in the coming weeks.

TraderPlanet.com, a service that offers users investment advice, has launched a new social-networking platform that aims at becoming the investment world's "cross between MySpace and WebMD." TraderPlanet.com will allow users to interact with each other over trading strategies and investment returns, while supplying its users with market news, an index of trader opinions, as well as chat rooms, blogs, and forum discussions to help improve interaction. Registration is free and available now.