Online music service Rhapsody, struggling to nab a bigger piece of the digital music pie, has found a well-heeled partner to take on Apple: Viacom's MTV Networks.  In exchange for a 49% ownership stake in Rhapsody's U.S. operations, MTV promises to spend $235 million on the site.  It will also merge its little-used URGE online music service with Rhapsody. The combined service will be called Rhapsody America.

USA TODAY spoke with Rob Glaser, CEO of Rhapsody's parent company Real Networks, about the news. His answers were edited for length and clarity.

Why does Rhapsody need MTV?
GLASER: We've got to get more people to know about (us).  We're like this cult band that everybody loves, but we need to go to the next level.

MTV has made lots of announcements through the years about digital media, but it's been more talk than results. How will you change that?
GLASER: We'll have ten times more (advertising) on television. We get exclusive rights to marketing with not just MTV, but its channels, like VH1 and CMT. If you go to our website today, you'll see that it's more than just TV advertising. We're going to be a big part of the MTV Video Music Awards.

Part of the announcement Tuesday was an alliance with Verizon Wireless. Will you be offering Rhapsody's on-demand streaming service on phones?
GLASER: We'll talk about that later.

How many subscribers does Rhapsody have?
GLASER: We have 2.7 million subscribers to all of Real's music properties, which also include online radio.

By Jefferson Graham

Microsoft is hustling to keep up with GPS-makers, notably giant Garmin.  It launched the the 2008 version of its popular Streets & Trips mapping software today.  It also introduced  a new device that plugs into your laptop, turns it into a GPS, and gives you traffic and gas price updates within a 125 mile radius.   The device, called a MSN Direct Receiver, uses FM radio to deliver data in real-time without an Internet connection.   (Microsoft had previous versions of this product, but with fewer features.)

Last year, Microsoft added turn-by-turn voice prompts to Street & Trips, and this year it has added automatic re-routing that helps drivers get back on track when they miss a turn.  Microsoft product manager Bobby Figueroa says the latest bells and whistles are designed “ to relieve these common travel stresses" and " help save drivers time and money.”   Trouble is Garmin pioneered these features a couple of years ago. And road usage of Street & Trips requires lugging along laptop -- and a shotgun-riding passenger to use it. Meanwhile, handheld GPS devices routinely come packed with easy-to-use maps. And they can be easily mounted on your dash board for solo use. What's more, automakers are increasingly rolling out new models with state-of-the-art GPS units elegantly built into your dash.

Even so, Street & Trips has earned positive user reviews and continues to be the best-selling travel and mapping software for the U.S. Canada, researcher NPD says.

By Byron Acohido

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak was clocked -- and ticketed -- doing 104 mph in his Prius on California's I-5 as he headed to a business trip in Las Vegas back in March, the San Jose Mercury News is reporting. That's close to the 105 mph that Al Gore III , son of the former vice president was caught doing in Southern California last month. "I pleaded guilty with an explanation" -- he'd been traveling overseas so much he confused miles with kilometers, Woz told the Merc .   (That's a big difference - 104 kilometers per hour is about 64 miles per hour.)   The fine was about $700, the Merc says.    We recently wrote about the dangers of driving on foreign roads - but not the danger of no longer understanding road signs when you come back home!

Posted by Senior Tech Editor Nancy Blair

Nielsen//NetRatings reports that Web sites having to do with travel were among the most active last week affirming that savvy travelers are doing self-directed research online like never before. Traffic for the week ended Aug. 19 increased more than 50 percent, compared to the year earlier period, at web pages for Travelzoo, Walt Disney World and JetBlue Airways. On Disney's pages, visitors found vacation package offers, park hours and an online itinerary planner. Hurricane Dean probably boosted traffic to JetBlue's pages as travelers plotted back up plans for impending flight schedule disruptions caused by the storm.

By Byron Acohido

Young philanthropists are armed with blogs and not afraid to use them. Also, why golf is simulated fun and the analysis behind Halo 3:

Wall St. Journal
-- Blogs and social networks are the tools of a new, younger generation of philanthropists.

NY Times
-- So far, politicians' attempts to outlaw sales of violent games to kids have been squashed by courts.
-- Golf simulators are in full swing on cruise ships.
-- The guy who made the WikiScanner is popular, but not Colbert Report popular. Yet.

NPR
-- You can't use hand-held mobiles while driving in five states and in DC. But then there's the tricky enforcement part.
-- Violent burglars will have to wear GPS tracking devices in Connecticut.

BBC
-- Monster.com had its employers' section attacked. The info stolen is the same as that in phone books.
-- Really, when you think of your average gamer, do you think of Nicole Kidman?

Wired
-- Bungie has analyzed over 3,000 hours of Halo 3 played by 600 gamers to test if it's the golden mean of fun. Also: See the studios, read a game primer, and check out the sweet weapons.
-- If you want a first-person shooter that tests you with ethical questions, try BioShock.
-- If you want to save $100, you can get a cheaper refurbished iPhone.

SF Chronicle
-- Want to swap your cellphone contract? There are sites just for you.
-- In 2005, only 250K GPS units were sold in the U.S. This year, they've already sold 900K.

TechCrunch
-- Open up gBox, and see what your friends want you to buy them -- including DRM-free music.
-- Zoho has launched offline functionality for its suite before Google, using Google software.
-- Facebook opened up their email a crack, but why do you have to log on to read messages?

GigaOM
-- Vlingo wants you to talk, not type, to your mobile phone.
-- MTV is merging Urge with Rhapsody, a music service from Real Networks.

Techdirt
-- So wait: there's no link between talking on cellphones while driving and accidents? Not so fast.
-- They don't buy Skype's Microsoft excuse for its downtime.

Posted by Jess Zielinski

How does your online bank or stock trading company treat you? According to a ranking issued by the Customer Respect Group, most financial services websites only do a fair job on usability and privacy. E-Loan and Wachovia were the only companies among 40 reviewed that earned a seven on Customer Respect Group's one to 10 scale.  Bank of America, KeyCorp, E-Trade, T. Rowe Price, U.S. Bancorp, Scottrade and Washington Mutual scored sixes. SunTrust, Wells Fargo, A.G. Edwards, Chares Schwab, TD Ameritrade and HSBC Bank scored in the fives. The average score for the group: 5.7.

Also: 50 percent of companies surveyed offered no way for customers to ban the company from sharing their personal data, and 45 percent failed to allow patrons to opt-out of ongoing marketing. Terry Golesworthy, president of The Customer Respect Group, says financial web sites "do not push the envelope" when it comes to respecting customers. Some, though, are starting to understand that, in the drive for wider adoption, they can't simply impose online banking entirely on their own terms. "This migration relies heavily upon the trust of the customer towards the website and, as such, online respect will become paramount," Golesworthy predicts.

By Byron Acohido

There's a battle being fought over your living room, and it looks like Sony and Microsoft are scoring points. Practically every electronics-maker wants to make the product that stores all your digital music, movies, and television, and routes that content between your stereo, TV and other devices.  If you have a standalone box that does that, it's called a digital media adapter. A new study out today from ABI Research says that about 184 million digital media adapters will have sold by 2012. But here's where it gets interesting: About 85% of these adapters will be built in to video game systems.

Confused?  High-tech video game systems, such as Sony's PlayStation or Microsoft's Xbox, are becoming tiny home theater set-ups.The most expensive Playstation 3 includes an 80 GB hard drive (big enough to hold about 30 hours of video) and a high-definition Blu-ray movie disc player. The Xbox 360 Elite comes with a 120 GB hard drive and easily connects wirelessly (or wired) to other multimedia devices including digital cameras and iPods. However, these feature-packed systems face plenty of competition from entertainment-focused PCs and Web-enabled TVs.

By Michelle Kessler

You've probably never heard of Vizio, but the company is now the No. 1 LCD TV-maker in North America, says a new study from researcher iSuppli.  Vizio, based in Irvine, Calif., is the name behind many of those incredibly low-priced TVs you see at Costco, Wal-Mart, and other big stores. Vizio got its start as a consulting firm that helped PC-maker Gateway launch a line of flat-panel TVs about five years ago.  Gateway has since pulled out of the TV market, but Vizio is going strong.

How could Vizio become so big, so fast?  It's possible because today's electronics-makers don't need their own factories. For-hire manufacturers in Asia will build nearly any electronic you want for a fee, and nearly everybody in the industry uses them. Outsourcing manufacturing allows Vizio to have only about 80 employees - and most of them work in tech support.

By Michelle Kessler

Blogs are time-consuming but good for small business, geneaology sites spur Americans to look back, and the new Nano rumors begin:

Wall St. Journal
-- Blogs are a blessing and a burden for small businesses.
-- Floorplanner lets you dream big about layouts. But it's a bit fantastical.

NY Times
-- AOL bet the farm of advertising growth, but it's slowing now.
-- Geneaology sites and simple $250 DNA tests are making more Americans search their roots.
-- An activist wants to get more court rulings online and for free.
-- HP's new service lets you print documents almost anywhere in the world.
-- All you Guitar Heroes: playing the real thing is much harder.

NPR
-- An inventor's children hope his innovative auto engine that costs and pollutes less will catch on.

Marketplace
-- It wasn't a hack that caused trouble for Skype.

BBC
-- Online pharmacies are raising the risk many people take in signing up for fake medicines.
-- Microsoft cut the European Xbox price by 50 euros (30 pounds).

Wired
-- The latest rumor for iPods? The Nano will have a widescreen display.

C|NET
-- Facebook surfers in Australia are costing their employers up to $4 billion in lost work time.

TechCrunch
-- Skype says Windows users in particular caused the outage.
-- In Silicon Valley, making pictures of attractive women free with clothing and pay without it.
-- Is GDrive just a platypus rap joke now?
-- A social network set up to buy an English football (soccer) team with user contributions.

GigaOM
-- So GrandCentral didn't mean that whole phone-number-for-life thing.
-- Keeping up with the Net set-top box developments.

Posted by Jess Zielinski

Canon today confirmed the long-anticipated replacement for its popular EOS 30D digital SLR camera: The EOS 40D is expected in stores by the end of the month for $1,299. The 40D has a 10-megapixel image sensor (up from the 30D's 8 megapixels) and a 3-inch LCD preview screen, up from a 2.5-inch. Canon says the camera is faster as well. The 40D is sold without a lens because Canon expects most customers for this already have plenty of lenses in the closet. A megapixel is a measurement of a camera's resolution.

For $1,499, Canon will bundle the 40D with a 28-135mm lens (wide-angle to telephoto). These cameras are step-up models from the entry-level Digital Rebel XTi, with more professional-like controls.

On the other end of the scale, Canon also announced its most expensive camera to date - the EOS 1Ds Mark III. This baby will set you back $7,000. It has a 21-megapixel sensor.  That's so sharp that Canon exec Chuck Westfall says it's good for not just big blow-ups, but "billboards." Not to confuse you, but earlier this year, Canon introduced the 1D Mark III - no "S" in the title for around $5,500, with a 10 megapixel sensor.

By Jefferson Graham