Pretty in Link: 19 of the Week’s Best Links

What you are about to read is an assortment of links that the VaynerMedia office found this week – some are tech, some are sports, some are funny, some are random, but all of the links are interesting… or so we think!

AJ Vaynerchuk: Foursquare and Starbucks Team Up to Offer Customer Rewards. The location base wars fascinate me. It is a true gold rush between Foursquare, Gowalla, and anyone else who jumps in soon (Facebook?)

Joe Whitmarsh: Valve Brings Hit Games, Steam Service to Mac. The people at Valve nail digital distribution and are bringing the incredibly popular Steam service to the Mac. Portal 2, Left 4 Dead 2 and Team Fortress 2? Yes please.

David Zhang: Japanese Plan Space-Based Solar Power. A solar power plant in space? Pretty awesome.

Keith Holjencin: Is Google Making Us Stupid? A superb article from The Atlantic covering our dependency on computers, and great tie-in to 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Matt Sitomer: What Kind of Brand Associates With Chatroulette? We knew someone would tap into the Chatroulette platform for marketing. French Connection jumped first. Will anyone follow?

John Oates: 12 iPhone Apps for Surviving Conference Season. An article that really interested me, especially with SXSW coming up.

Sam Taggart: Internet Vices. Oldie but goodie. Patrick Moberg relates various Internet & social networking sites to corresponding drugs & vices. For example, “GMail is caffeine pills. Great for a quick pick me up to stimulate productivity, but ultimately leaves you exhausted and relying on it.”

Saeed Jabbar: Why Most Programmers are Lousy. If you’ve ever experience a bad programmer, now you know why.

Zak Jacoby: NES harmonicas Hit eBay, Three Lucky Gamers Cheer. NES game + harmonica = total awesome

Phil Toronto: Hate Mail From Third Graders. I was pretty upset when scientists stopped considering Pluto a planet… but these 8-year olds provide science and drawings to argue against the decision.

Marcus Krzastek: 5 Reasons Why Old Spice’s “Smell Like a Man” Commercials Win. Because those commercial are incredible.

Adam Kopec: Design Around the World: Metro Maps. An interesting concept and wonderful showcase: a collection of subway maps from around the world.

Caleb Brown: Stickybits! This very cool site launched this week, which allows you to attach digital content to real-world objects via the product’s UPC. Very fun and a beautiful design.

Mike Boyd: Jason Alexander 80s McDonald’s Commercial. I wish commercials were still this crazy and fun.

Stephanie Bagley: SXSW: See All Austin Check-ins in One Place. Cliqset made a web app that will aggregate all check-ins from SXSW from Foursquare, Gowalla, Twitter & Cliqset so you can easily find the hot spots, as well as for stalking purposes near and far!

Colette Corrica: Record Tripping. For your inner DJ.

Neil Sarkar: How I was able to Ace Exams without Studying. This guy gets it

Marcus Krzastek: Record Labels: Change or Die. Times are a-changing in the music industry, very excited to see how marketing and distribution gets handled in five years.

David Zhang: Eggwatcher: The Egg Timer that Entertains You. Creative and amusing site for those who enjoy hard-boiled eggs but have a short attention span.