Webware

(Credit: Twitter)

In observance of Good Friday, a New York church has been Twittering the story of the Passion--the biblical tale of the hours leading up to Jesus' crucifixion. This means that subscribers will receive 140-character updates coming from a set of Twitter accounts run by people playing characters in the story.

Trinity Wall Street is an Episcopal church in Manhattan's Financial District that live-streams its services on the Web, encourages members of the congregation to send video e-postcards to friends and family, and produces its own podcasts. The church's thinking behind offering a Twitter feed of the Passion is to offer a way to bring the day of observance into modern life and technology: While Good Friday is one of the most important days of the church year for many Christian denominations, there are plenty of devout Americans who don't take the day off from work.

But edgy interpretations of the Passion are nothing new. This is the same subject matter depicted in "The Passion of the Christ," the controversial Mel Gibson movie from a few years ago in which the dialogue was presented in the languages of the time without subtitles.

Also worth noting this week: a Passover haggadah depicted in the form of a Facebook news feed.

For the second year, YouTube on Friday unveiled a holiday feature that lets users create hosted video cards to send to friends and family. Users can select this option from any YouTube video, or from a special page that houses selected community videos and links to a user's own clips.

There's also an option to make a more personalized greeting straight from a connected Webcam. For now, only one video can be attached to a given greeting card.

When users are finished picking a video for use in a greeting card, they can choose from a handful of themes that house the video player, then add up to 230 characters of text and send the complete card to up to 25 e-mail recipients.

According to YouTube's company blog, more than a million of these greetings were sent out last year, before the feature disappeared in January.

Turn any YouTube video into a greeting card for the holidays.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Web sites that promise to pay for your old gadgets look bright around the holidays, when every extra dollar can count toward new gifts or even utility bills. But are the services worthwhile? How much can you earn?

We examined nine services that pay for your unwanted digital wares. These are among the newest options to help keep electronics waste out of landfills, while uncluttering your closets.

Click on this image to see what seven services quoted to pay for 11 used electronics.

(Credit: Elsa Wenzel/CBS Interactive)

We looked up what each service said it would pay for working iPods, PDAs, laptops, gaming consoles, and more, with cables but lacking their original boxes. For dead devices, some offer a pittance, or will connect you with willing recyclers and charity recipients. Our chart (at right) shows what each site claims it pays for specific equipment. Keep reading for highlights of the trade-in services.

We can't yet vouch for the start-to-finish experience of mailing in products to these companies. Those that find your equipment in worse shape than you estimated will downgrade the trade-in value.

If you only need to offload an old phone, look out for our upcoming comparison of sites that specialize in refurbishing and recycling handsets, including Cell for Cash, Simply Sellular, and ReCellular.

Animoto, a company that creates videos from a user's photos and music on-the-fly, announced Tuesday that it has added new features to its software that will turn its videos into online holiday greetings.

According to the company, the new holiday feature will use a snowscape to set the scene for the greeting and with the help of its new text feature, users can add captioning to detail events.

In order to create the holiday videos, users can upload photos using Animoto's service and click the "Santa" button, which turns the video into a holiday greeting. A new holiday genre will be added to Animoto's music library so users can pick the holiday song they wish to have played during the video.

Animoto's service is stellar. I've used the site to create videos on a number of occasions and each time, the videos are unique and attractive. The site allows you to upload images and choose music, but its Cinematic Artificial Intelligence technology, which acts as the director and editor, will do the rest. That said, creating videos on the service can be a little pricey and unfortunately, Animoto didn't share holiday generosity with its new offering.

Full-length videos cost $3 and annual subscriptions to create an unlimited number of full-length videos will cost $30. Any video that is 30 seconds or less will be free. Animoto claims all of the videos will be DVD-quality and can be viewed on HDTVs or projectors.

(Credit: Animoto)

Do the halls of malls give you a case of the jingle hells? You could kick back for a 20-minute break from rampant consumerism to learn more about the toxic mess it makes of the planet.

Fun, right? Actually, it is with The Story of Stuff. It's a short, friendly movie covering the ABCs of consumer culture. The sky may be falling, but we can prop it up, the film suggests.

The Story of Stuff was produced by Free Range Studios, makers of the Meatrix. That entertaining, animated diatribe against factory farming has attracted more than 15 million viewers. The studio's (Grocery) Store Wars parody has been seen by some 10 million people.

Released just several weeks ago, The Story of Stuff has already enjoyed 416,760 unique visitors. Its makers hope that Stuff might similarly leave a lasting impression that spurs people to rethink their role in a pollution-based economy.

Sure, call it eco-propaganda. Yet, the facts in Stuff are well-researched and cited.

Writer and host Annie Leonard is an environmental activist who has spent two decades touring dumps and factories around the world. The Sustainability Funders and Tides Foundation provided funding.

The first chapter is embedded below, or check out the full 20 minutes at StoryofStuff.com.

Evite added mobile capabilities yesterday to speed up the party-planning process. Its QuickVite features let you send invitations in one step from an e-mail account or mobile phone, and handle RSVPs the same way. Of course, you can also juggle the details at Evite.com.

This could help to make managing a party less exhausting. Even picking a design for an online invitation can waste time, especially for a last-minute get together. For instance, Evite offers 57 templates for cocktail parties alone, not to mention options for dozens of events from anniversaries to weddings.

In one step, you can plan a party and invite people via e-mail and text message.

(Credit: CNET)

The painless sign-up process requires adding mobile numbers for yourself and friends. But it was weird that Evite didn't prompt me to add names already in my address book--a big drawback if you want 50 of your closest pals to join you on that free dinner cruise that takes off in a few hours.

You can ask QuickVite to send event details to your own phone to check who's coming or ditching. Alerts can ping you when folks reply or when a party you're attending changes. Thoughtfully, however, Evite does not set those alerts by default, so you won't be bombarded by text messages on your handset unless you ask for them.

Among some drawbacks, though, I'd like Evite to offer better integration with maps, as MyPunchbowl does. Improved integration between QuickVite and the rest of Evite features would be nice. I wish I could turn a QuickVite into a regular Evite later, in case I wanted to use the mobile invitation as a save-the-date notice, and then flesh out the details of a party when I had more free time.

Still, this is a step in the right direction for Evite, which is adding QuickVite to Facebook. A mobile application that Evite is building could very well add some of the pieces I found missing in QuickVite. In September the company added a send-to-phone capability allowing people to access party details on their handsets.

Evite manages more than 450,000 invitations every month. It's owned by IAC Search & Media, the parent of the Ask.com search engine and Bloglines feed reader.

(See more party-planning services here.)

If a holiday season free of wrapping paper and ribbons is on your wish list, there are many options for giving presents without touching anything but a computer and credit card. Services that can be ordered and received online also can be more eco-friendly than physical presents. Of course, you could always funnel funds directly into someone's PayPal account, but where's the fun (for you) in that?

Netflix offers gift subscriptions from $9 for one month of movie rentals to $108 for one year. GreenCine's rental certificates for indie film buffs start at $44 for two months.

eMusic ($30 for 3 months and up), Rhapsody (starting at 50 songs for $35), and iTunes ($15 and up) offer gift subscriptions for audiophiles. Want to help a friend move their music collection into this century? The mail-in service Riptopia charges about a dollar for each CD it digitizes.

Bibliophiles can order $50 cards worth of electronic books from Audible that are ready for most MP3 players as well as the new Amazon Kindle (although Sony Reader users must shop at that brand's store).

Residents of virtual worlds including Second Life, Habbo Hotel and Maple Story can purchase virtual gifts for avatars. Console gamers can hook up with each other with an xBox Live subscription.

People who like to go places in the real world might appreciate memberships to nearby museums or gifts in their honor to public radio and television stations. Amateur astronomers can get gift certificates between $15 and $100 to Slooh (review here), which lets you control powerful mountaintop telescopes.

For your touchy-feely friends, SpaFinder certificates starting at $50 can be claimed at one of more than 4,000 spas. In downtown San Francisco, $70 per month buys 60 minutes of chair massage through Zubio, whose reservations are all managed online. Of course, you can always buy gift cards through massage therapists near your gift recipient, or find low-priced package deals through their local massage school. Most yoga centers and gyms sell gift certificates just in time for New Year's resolutions.

People who would rather stuff than tone their bellies may eat up gift certificates to restaurants, or a $49 annual subscription to a site like Rouxbe that includes Web-based cooking classes. (also here).

Family focus

For unlimited online storage of so many holiday snapshots, a one-year Pro subscription to Flickr costs $25, while SmugMug charges $35. For $300, Phanphare pledges to store someone's lifetime of photos and videos. Apple fans might want an annual .Mac subscription for $100, or $180 for five folks.

To bring the genetic profiles of your ancestors into the picture, DNA testing kits through Ancestry.com (more here) Genebase or the Genographic Project (more here) start around $100. The Story of My Life service invites people to upload an autobiography for free, and then charges a dollar per megabyte to safeguard that story, purportedly for the benefit of future generations into eternity.

Getting around

To help somebody who can't afford to jet home for the holidays, many airlines offer gift certificates as well as the option to donate frequent-flier miles. Now that the Zipcar car rental by-the-hour service has merged with archrival Flexcar, there will be more vehicles from which to choose in some two dozen cities. Drivers who want to ditch AAA for its eco-unfriendly reputation may prefer the roadside service of the Better World Club, which even offers help for stranded bicyclists.

The greenhouse gases spewed into the atmosphere from all that driving and flying can't be taken back. At least carbon credits from Native Energy, Carbonfund and TerraPass, and LiveNeutral offer the opportunity to donate to alternative energy projects.

Each year, some 41 pounds of credit card offers, catalogs and other junk mail arrive in your mailbox, according to 41pounds. This service charges $41 for five years of slaying junk mail before it reaches your door. One-third of that price will be donated to one of 36 nonprofits of your choice. Similarly, GreenDimes' junk-mail-busting gift cards start at $15, including 10 trees planted in honor of the giftee.

News hounds and bookworms who want to save trees will find the New York Times fully free online, with the Wall Street Journal expected to follow, but you'll still need to pay Salon to read its articles without ads (its annual Premium subscription often throws in several printed magazines, like Wired).

If you prefer e-greetings to paper cards, one dollar buys your friend a MokuGift animated e-card of a furry creature planting a tree. Meanwhile, the donation supports the planting of a real-world tree through Sustainable Harvest (also see Tree Nation).

In the name of someone who has everything, you can make charitable contributions to people around the planet. Changing the Present offers gift registries to cover such causes as disaster relief, HIV research or minefield cleanup. Alternative Gifts International, Heifer International, Mercy Corps, and Seva are among the groups offering the chance to pay, say, $20 for a flock of chicks for a far-flung farm. Facebook also offers a bunch of gift-giving apps.

The nonprofit Kiva enables you to support a startup in another country with a loan of as little as $25.The new MicroPlace from eBay is similar, but with a $100 entry loan. ModestNeeds will hook you up with someone in the United States who seeks a hand with some painful bills.

Proceeds for the auctions at Bidding for Good, an eBay alternative, go to charities. Tickets for travel packages, as well as for sports and other shows are among the items that leave no objects behind.

A LinkedIn membership may fit the bill for the job seeker or wedded-to-the-job type who lives and breathes social networking. Options include $20 for a Business account, $50 BusinessPlus, or $200 for Pro. For someone who could use a personal assistant, you could give a gift subscription to Ask Sunday. Whether helping to change a doctor's appointment or find an elephant for a wedding, this concierge service is priced monthly at $29 for 30 requests or $49 for 50 requests. Do My Stuff (more here) connects people with others willing to run all kinds of errands including those that must be done in person, such as picking up dry cleaning. Gift cards start at $10, with prices for services determined by bids made by potential assistants.

Any small business owner should back up their data away from the office, but you probably know some who don't. They may thank you later for your initially snoozeworthy offer to pay for online storage. Popular services include Mozy for $5 per month, Carbonite for $50 per year, or xDrive, which costs $10 monthly per 50GB.

(See also Getting cash for crashed gadgets as well as CNET's green gift guide and holiday guide.)

(Credit: CNET)

Even if the people in your life are spoiled, you don't need to turn to coal as a holiday gift. Instead, you can stuff stockings with gift cards that send cash in their honor to a worthy cause.

Changing the Present lets you make charitable contributions in the name of a loved one. Unlike other do-good gifting services (see below), you and your giftees can set up personal profiles that specify favorite causes. Plus, Changing the Present's Stupid Gifts Hall of Shame could be a destination in its own right (although I think fake vomit makes a fine present).

The list of causes runs the gamut from Aging to Women--with the environment, microcredit, and 28 others in between. For example, you could pay $160 to send a laptop to a child on the wrong side of the digital divide, or $15 to clear 10 meters of landmines--then deduct it from your taxes come April. Your loved one gets a recycled paper gift card to show off his or her passive selflessness.

(Credit: Kiva)

While it connects with hundreds of nonprofit organizations, Changing the Present doesn't yet hook up to GuideStar or another database that would let you add just about any 501(c)3 group to the roster. The site plans to expand its listings, although at this point, for instance, I only found three Illinois organizations.

(Credit: Heifer)

If ecological cleanup and human rights protections are high on your wish lists, check out these other gifting Web sites:

(Credit: Seva)

• Alternative Gifts International can send clean water, wheelchairs, and doctors to villages on the other side of the planet.
• Heifer International's gift cards enable you to send honeybees, bunnies, chicks or big mammals like llamas and cows to rural families who need a hand to sustain their way of living.
• Seva means service in Sanskrit. Purchasing Seva gift cards in the name of a friend or family member can help fight child blindness and fund development projects for Indian, Native American, Latin American, and other communities.
• Through Modest Needs, you can offer a no-strings help to U.S. strangers who are having trouble paying paying medical bills and other vital expenses.
• Want to help, but you need the money back? Kiva microloans connect you with people in Eastern Europe, South America, Asia, and Africa who are looking to borrow funds for their small businesses.