In the movie Minority Report advertising billboards use lasers to do retinal scans of people passing by and then tailor the message to that individual. Today in Tokyo, some billboards have been set up to estimate the age and gender of the people passing by.

It’s the beginning, folks. The billboard message can change to reflect the age and gender of the person it recognizes. When Gramps goes by, he’ll see Geritol ads. When a teenie bopper goes by, it will pitch the latest cell phone. More here.

Most music sites want to charge a lot to download those few seconds. But a new site, FriendlyMusic.com, charges only $1.99 for music that can be used with YouTube videos. You find music by searching through popular playlists, like “weddings,” “science and gadgets,” etc. Or look at common search terms, like “classical,” “rock/pop” and “contemporary.”

For music to use outside YouTube, try the FriendlyMusic’s parent site: Rumblefish.com. Some of the stuff there is free.

To combat that, Microsoft has teamed up with Laplink to offer free copies of “PCMover” to any company moving up to Windows 7. PCMover moves programs from XP over to the new operating system, so you don’t have to reinstall them. The free deal, called the “MoveNow” program,  starts July 19 and runs through September 30.

Here’s a bit more info:

• MoveNow is for companies that buy software through Ingram Micro U.S., a big distributor.
• The average company saves $300 per PC by not having to reinstall programs.
• It doesn’t matter if the migration takes place between unlike computers, such as 32 bit and 64 bit.
• PCmover Business is a version of the program that runs on a USB key, so you don’t have to install it on every PC before making the move.

This was super easy to use: Just drag and drop icons onto a timeline, with different colors for different groups of employees. Add icons for “action lists,” “issues,” “contacts,” etc. You can schedule meetings, goals, milestones and more.

The only downside to this program is its cost, which is $299. But then, project management software is usually expensive, typically over $400. You can get a free trial and watch a demo at swiftlightsoftware.com.

If you just need a basic version of Microsoft Project, there’s the $40 “Plan for Windows” from download.com. We thought it was a little confusing, but it opens Project files and has a free trial.

Unlisted shares are fairly common. Many companies issue shares to their employees even though the company itself is not publicly listed for trading. The reasons are simple enough: they want to reward accomplishments and provide

incentives for the day when the company goes public. Of course, many companies never go public. So what can you do with the shares? It turns out they may be worth something after all.

Shares of Facebook recently traded on SecondMarket for $50 apiece, which a little arithmetic puts the company’s value at $25 billion. That’s more than Yahoo and ten times more than AOL. (Facebook’s privately traded shares have doubled since December.)

Such off-market trading tends to be thin and difficult to track. Demand often outpaces supply. Nevertheless, real money changes hands.

According to the survey:

-     72% of US employees receive their pay via Direct Deposit (DD)

-     Only 4 in 10 small businesses use DD for their paycheck.

-     86 percent of large companies use DD.

-     The consumer services, food/leisure, and construction sectors lag the most in offering DD.

-     Small businesses waste an estimated 3 to 5 days annually writing checks.

-     Employees waste 9 to 24 hours each year cashing their checks. (They could be using this time to watch soccer.)

You can have tabs across the top of the screen, each for a separate workspace –one for business, personal, etc., and use color labels to group tasks.  You can create a “hot” list and set the program to remind you of things. A free utility lets you keep your to-do list in a Gmail window while you browse the incoming mail. This thing gets pretty fancy.

But what makes the Producteev  different from countless other to-do sites, such as RememberTheMilk.com, is that you can also forward a message to it from email or any instant messaging service, whether on computer or cell phones. AOL, Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Twitter all let you send instant messages.

If you receive a message with a task you want to remember, send it to task@producteev.com, with a little code attached and it is added to your list. Producteev explains how to do this, but other features remain something of a mystery.  Producteev badly needs a “help” button to figure out all it does and how to do it.  Their tech support is very responsive, however. Producteev is free for individuals and up to three users; larger groups and businesses must pay, the charge depending on their numbers.