Kansas based Blogfuse is a Facebook application creator for bloggers that allows content from blogs to be turned into a native Facebook application.The service is as simple to use as signing up and adding a RSS feed. Blogfuse hosts the application and it links in to Facebook functions such as share this, allowing blog posts to be easily shared within Facebook. Applications are coded in Facebook’s FBML code and not flash, delivering a visually seamless application.

Blogfuse also doesn’t believe that users should be locked into their service; should a user decide later that they want to host their Facebook application themselves, switching is simply a matter of changing the app’s Callback Url, meaning you never lose a user or have to start again.

Blogfuse offers full hosting for the app irrelevant of the traffic each app has. Packages start at $5/ month for one blog up to $30/ month for 10 blogs.

Thanks to Blogfuse we have twenty lifetime “Pro Blogger” packages (ten blogs each) to give away to TechCrunch readers. Tell us in the comments why you want your own Facebook Application (include a real email when making the comment in the email box, it won’t be published but we’ll need it to send you the code) and we’ll select twenty of the best comments for a free account.

And don’t forget, if you’re looking for invites to other services, visit InviteShare.

Duncan Riely

Amazon.com has added songs from Warner Music Group to the range it sells as MP3 files without DRM (digital rights management), the companies said Friday.

The online retailer launched its music download service in September and now offers 2.9 million songs without copy prevention technology, including tracks from Warner, EMI, Universal, and 33,000 independent record labels — although it has still not won over Sony BMG, the only one of the music majors still insisting on the use of DRM.

Warner said it also planned to offer album bundles including exclusive tracks through the Amazon service.

The move is a blow to Apple’s iTunes Store, which has only persuaded EMI and a handful of independent labels to let it offer their tracks in the DRM-free iTunes Plus format it launched in May. The rest of the songs available through iTunes come with digital limitations on where they can be played, or how many times they can be burned to a CD.

Three formats dominate the market for online music sales: MP3 and AAC, which are both open formats, and WMA, a proprietary format owned by Microsoft.

MP3 files do not include provision for DRM: music recorded in that format will play on most digital music players, many mobile phones, and in software readily available for all the major operating systems, including Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, opening up a huge potential market to Amazon and to other online music stores such as eMusic dealing in unprotected MP3 files.

AAC is the format Apple chose for its iTunes Store. Most of the 6 million tracks in its catalog come wrapped in a proprietary DRM layer called FairPlay, although EMI and independents such as Sub Pop, Nettwerk, IODA and The Orchard also allow it to offer higher quality AAC recordings without DRM. The DRM-encumbered tracks will play on authorized iPods, iPhones, PCs, and Macs — but won’t play on digital music players from other vendors. Unprotected AAC files will also play on many mobile phones, PCs running Linux with the appropriate software, and even Microsoft’s Zune digital music player.

WMA files without DRM will play on PC or Macs using Windows Media Player, and some phones and digital music players — although typically not on the same ones that play AAC files. Microsoft has also introduced a range of DRM systems enabling online stores to sell locked WMA files — and later abandoned some of them, leaving a certain amount of confusion and doubt about whether devices and songs branded “PlaysForSure” really will play for sure.

Industry executives expect initiatives such as iTunes Plus and Amazon MP3, which remove the DRM locks placed on music downloads by an earlier generation of music services, will encourage consumers to buy more music.

Warner believes that giving consumers the assurance that the music they purchase can be played on any device they own will only encourage more sales of music, it said Friday.

It may also persuade music-buyers to look at other brands of digital music player such as the Zune range from Microsoft, ending Apple’s dominance of that market segment.

With the locks off the music, Apple also faces the prospect of a price war with Amazon, which offers 1 million of its MP3 tracks for just $0.89, compared to the $0.99 Apple charges for all its tracks. Before the launch of Amazon MP3, Apple also charged a $0.30 premium for tracks in the iTunes Plus format, which is recorded at a higher quality than the DRM-encumbered versions. Other Amazon tracks sell for $0.99.

By Peter Sayer, IDG News Service

Penelope Cruz steals her sister’s clothes.

The ‘Volver’ star has launched a line of clothes for high street store Mango with her younger sister Monica, but still raids Monica’s wardrobe when she visits.

Monica said, “We are the same size and we borrow each other’s clothes all the time. When I stay with Penelope in Los Angeles I borrow her clothes and when she comes to Madrid, she has a house near mine, she takes things from my wardrobe.”

The 30-year-old fashion designer also revealed her and Penelope’s mother Encarna would never have let them go off the rails like Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan.

She said, “My mother is incredible. She is a very strong woman and has taught us so much. It’s my mother who has kept us all grounded. I think fame, particularly if it happens when you are quite young, as it did in Spain for Penelope and me, is very corrupting.

“My mother stopped us from getting stupid or big-headed or forgetting how to behave. When I see how women behave in Hollywood now - Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan, for example - I’m grateful for the support my mother gave me and my sister and also now for my brother, Eduardo, who is a singer.”

New York Sports Clubs (NYSC), the largest owner and operator of health and fitness clubs in the tri-state area, today announced the opening of two new locations in New York City, one at 115th Street and 5th Avenue in Harlem and the other in Sunnyside, Queens. The Harlem club, New York Sports Clubs’ third location in the community, is a 14,000 square foot facility at 1400 5th Avenue. NYSC’s first Harlem club, at West 124th Street, opened in 1999 and the second, at West 145th Street, opened in early October of this year.

NYSC’s sixth location in Queens, the 15,000 square foot Sunnyside location, is located at 39-01 Queens Boulevard and is just steps from the #7 train.

Both locations feature state-of-the-art equipment with outstanding amenities, like a sauna and dedicated personal training area. All of the cardio equipment is equipped with personal viewing screens which allow members to watch tv, or listen to music, while they work out. The fitness floor has a large selection of strength equipment which is expertly laid out to optimize workout time. Members of both locations will get to choose from a wide variety of fitness options, including group exercise classes like cardio kickbox, boot camp, and pilates-based mat.

“NYSC wants to make fitness as convenient and easy for New Yorkers as possible,” said Alex Alimanestianu, CEO of NYSC. “For people who live in these neighborhoods, these clubs are coming at the perfect time of year to help them achieve their fitness goals.”

MONTREAL — Silicon Valley wisdom holds that a great tech company starts small — by tradition in a garage — and slowly grows as it proves itself.

Google started that way. So did Apple and the social-network darling Facebook. So are thousands of startups worldwide that want to make their fortunes on the Internet.

But what if one starts big from the get-go? What if an entrepreneur commands millions of dollars and throws it all into a company with a hundred employees, rooms full of computers, and very few

Is this a reckless return to the dot-com bubble days? Or is it a bold charge at Internet notoriety?

Capazoo is a new Montreal-based social network that fancies itself the next stage in the evolution of social networking, and it’s betting on the latter. It wants to unseat MySpace and Facebook as the reigning champs of online socializing.

And it has $25 million from pro-athlete investors and a well-known entertainment brand behind it. Its rationale: Social networks are nothing without their users.

It’s individuals who add the funny pictures, videos and blog ramblings that make other users stick around. So shouldn’t users be compensated for the popularity of their content?

To this end, Capazoo’s model offers two significant twists: Users who post popular content can profit from their contribution — but only if they pay a yearly fee.

“There’s this growing backlash that sees corporations making money on the backs of content producers,” said Robert Samuels, general manager of Capazoo, taking a swipe at YouTube and its cohorts that are capitalizing on user-generated media. “People are basically saying: ‘I want to be appreciated, not taken advantage of.’ ”

On the surface, little sets Capazoo apart from others. Users create profiles, share pictures, videos and music, and keep personal blogs.

Its grand idea is to foster a micro-economy in which users “tip” each another with a fictional currency called the Zoop. New users are given an allowance of Zoops they can give away at will. They can then buy more Zoops at a penny each.

This, founders claim, will encourage users to post interesting content that others will want to tip. Good content will attract more users. Professionals will want to promote their videos and music there.

That’s the theory.

Capazoo gives users the option to convert their accumulated Zoops into real cash. But to do that, you have to be a paying member, at $25 to $35 a year, depending on the package.

These VIP members receive a debit card carrying their Zoop balance, which they can use at most bank machines.

This melding of virtual and physical worlds will be Capazoo’s greatest test.

If its big bet succeeds, Capazoo will surprise a lot of skeptical observers in the tech world.

“Starting small is definitely the way you start these days, especially if you don’t have an edge in the marketplace,” said Barry Parr, an analyst with Jupiter Research.

“I’m not saying it’s impossible to beat these guys [MySpace and Facebook], but there are few historical precedents to show it can be done. Once a leader is established, it’s very hard if not impossible to do it.”

Samuels dismisses the criticism.

“We’re not your average startup,” he said. “Our growth plan is significant, we have to have the infrastructure.”

Capazoo’s spending spree includes $5 million for Web hosting services, an amount deemed absurd by startup standards. “In a few years, someone else will come up behind us, so we have to prepare for that, too,” Samuels explains

To its critics, Capazoo’s biggest red flag is that it’s funded almost entirely by private individuals. The company’s co-founder and president is Grant Carter, a former defensive end for the Alouettes who married a CBC reporter and moved to a suburb of Atlanta to become a banker.

Major investors include NFL, NHL and NBA personalities.

National Lampoon, the satirical magazine popular among the college set, last week took a minor stake in the firm.