YouTube will soon roll out the redesign of its channel page, despite an outcry from some users who want things to stay just as they are.  The Google video-sharing site tested the redesign for several months before announcing that the new design will go live on July 15.  The goal of the new design is to provide a better user experience for YouTube site members and visitors.  You can read the YouTube announcement here.

News this week of Steve Jobs’ heath problems and liver transplant has put a focus on his importance to the history of technological innovation at the end of the 20th century. Starting with the first pre-assembled Apple computers that Jobs marketed with Steve Wozniak, it can really be said that Jobs played a major role in making digital technology part of everyday life.

The iPod has revolutionized how we listen to music, and Pixar Animation Studios has shown that computer animation can be used to make amazing feature length films. Jobs had a hand in each of these innovations. Techies around the world are wishing Jobs the best and hoping he’ll soon be bringing us the next big thing.

Father’s Day is here, and you may be stuck on what to get the dad who has everything. How about this coffee-making robot? Hina the humanoid robot grinds the coffee beans and brews the coffee in this YouTube video. The video was first posed on the Japanese portal Nico Nico, where it received over 100,000 views in 24 hours. No word about how to get your own Hina for Dad.

Scribd is an online publishing website which claims to be the world’s most popular social publishing site, receiving more than 60 million visitors per month. Scribd allows users to post documents in a variety of formats and embed them into a webpage in the iPaper format. More than 50,000 documents are uploaded daily, making Scribd something like the YouTube of the written word.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the publishing company Simon & Schuster has announced plans to offer 5,000 titles for distribution on Scribd. The publisher will set the price for the titles. The prices will probably be close to the price for print books, with a possible 20% reduction for title published on Scribd.

Amazon offers electronic books which can be viewed in plain text format on its Kindle book reader device. The different with iPaper is that no special device is required, and books have the same appearance as print versions.  Books may be read on the Scribd website, or downloaded in PDF format and printed.  This partnership between Simon & Schuster and Scribd could offer some serious competition to the Kindle.

For professionals who want to limit the amount of equipment they carry, the OmniPen Pro is the answer.  This handy device combines a ballpoint pen, red laser pointer, LED reading light and PDA stylus.  Now you can read in the dark, give a presentation, takes notes and record items in your PDA with one handy tool!

The Freelock is a concept bicycle which features an innovative self-locking design. The bicycle seat doubles as a lock, eliminating the need to carry a lock and chain on all your cycling treks. The handlebars and body can be rotated to accommodate different bike racks and poles. The only problem could be that the wheels are now vulnerable to theft, a problem which the old-fashioned chain and lock took care of.

A professor named Hiroshi Kobayashi at Tokyo’s Science University has developed Saya-San, a robot teacher. Saya-San currently can take attendance and hand out assignments. One of her most suprising abilities is enabled by 18 motors located under her eerily life-like latex face which allow her to make various expressions which are linked to descriptive words like sad, angry and happy.

Japan is funding research into robots like Saya-San as a possible solution for the problem of labor shortages due to an aging population. Inventor Kobayashi is careful to warn that Saya-San has no intelligence and still couldn’t begin to replace a human instructor.

An earlier version of this robot named Saya was put to work as a receptionist in 2004. See her being put through her paces in this YouTube video.

This multi-color LED light bulb with remote controller is a slick little gadget which allows you to turn a standard light fixture into a mood-setting light. Use this light bulb to set the mood for a party, a holiday or a relaxing spa-like experience.

The bulb is equipped with red, blue and green LEDs.  The remote control lets you mix these colors to obtain 15 different shades.  You can also dim the light intensity with the remote.  You can get this multi-color LED light bulb and remote at Amazon.

The Flip is a pocket-sized camcorder that delivers high quality video. This is Flip’s latest model, featuring HD video and 8 GB of built-in memory. No tapes or memory cards are required to record video. The Flip camcorder has one-touch recording and a really simple, intuitive user interface. You can literally take this camcorder out of the box and be making videos in just a matter of minutes. Maybe the best part of the Flip camcorder is that it has a built-in USB arm that plugs right into a PC or MAC, so no wires or cables are needed to upload video. The Flip also comes with software that makes it easy to edit and email clips, make movies and photos and to upload clips to YouTube and MySpace.

My friend’s teenage son received a Flip as a gift and he uses it a lot, making movies of friends and his band. The Flip is really sturdy, withstanding the beating a teenager can give it. This handy camcorder is highly recommended.

Steampunk style technology is a growing trend these days. This Steampunk USB drive for sale on arts and crafts website Etsy is an example of the style. Steampunk refers to a category of fantasy fiction that became popular in the 1980s and 1990s, and is characterized by stories set in an era where steam was the primary source of power. Victorian-era England and France are often the locations for this fiction, harkening back to the works of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne.

Steampunk in the crafts world takes the form of utilitarian objects which have been modded by artisans in the Steampunk style. This “Rusted Steampunk USB Drive” is a perfect example. Built around a standard 4GB SanDisk, this drive has been decorated with a weathered metal casing and sells for $40.

See more than 19,000 items like this on Etsy.