The Copydesk will be a little bit quiet for the next week or so.

In the meantime, why not visit our sponsor, eeztrade, and grab yourself some cheap ink cartidges.

A German inventor claims he has developed a method to produce crude oil products from wastel, but denies he also used dead cats.

Google have launched a blog search beta.

A lot of hoo-ha surrounded the ‘Berliner’-style re-formatting of The Guardian newspaper, which relaunched yesterday, replete with a new typeface for the logo and a general change in the layout and style of the newspaper.

It’s largely down to progressively flagging sales – not only of The Grauny itself, but of all broadsheet newspapers (and tabloids, for that matter). Personally, I can’t understand why they don’t just abandon the paper altogether and concentrate on their fantastic website, although they’d probably find it difficult to maintain a decent income from a web-only presence.

The two most interesting aspects of the redesign were the web-style features (chevrons>> on the front page, shorter articles) and the little-known availibility of a fully digital edition in PDF format, which is free for the first two weeks of the relaunch.

Great headline on Gizmodo about eBay’s recent acquisition:

eBay Buys Skype, Leaves Positive Feedback, Gets Blue Star.

Four years ago today, I was in London.

A survivor of hurricane Katrina speaks to Vice President Dick Cheney in a language he understands (QuickTime video link).

If Britain is four meals away from the collapse of civilisation, then New Orleans surrendered before breakfast.

From News.com.au:

“At the city’s convention centre where thousands had sought refuge, Trolkyn Joseph, 37, said men had wandered around raping and murdering children.

She said she found a dead 14-year-old girl at 5am yesterday, four hours after she went missing inside the convention centre.

“She was raped for four hours until she was dead,” Ms Joseph said through tears.

“Another child, a seven-year-old boy, was found raped and murdered in the kitchen freezer last night.”"