Best of the blogs: Just about everybody knows what a headache collecting rebates can be and, as Ed Foster reports in this Gripe Line post, some folks suspect they just get thrown away when vendors prefer not to pay. “But now there’s proof,” he writes. Vastech, in fact, was caught red-handed, and red-faced, for trashing some 1,300 requests. “The incident adds fuel to our long-running debate about whether mail-in rebates of this sort should be eliminated.” Video: A fresh look at Apple’s bevy of new and updated iPods. There’s the iPod Touch, which looks like the iPhone but has no telephone capabilities, and the iPod Classic. “Apple has done something they have not done in a while, they’ve given existing iPod owners a reason to upgrade,” explains PCWorld’s Melissa Perenson. Watch it here. The news beat: IBM launches a free technical content syndication service that aims to extend content to Web platforms including Google, Yahoo, NetView and iPhone, via developer gizmos. Financially motivated malware thrives as automated software packages make it easier for even unskilled hackers. Discussions are now underway to put Intel into OLPC’s $100 laptop. And mobile business applications middleware is starting to catch on, an approach that advocates claim results in more mature wireless services. Notes from the field: It’s Friday, so that means another of Cringely’s geek week in review episodes. This week’s incidents, in order: Nolo mojo, blind justice, sowing his wild oats, the spamski what amski and, finally, goodbye rupee Tuesday. Technology Industry