This weekend's global music event, Live 8, is using every medium possible to raise awareness about poverty -- from streaming music and video to texting, blogging, satellite radio and television.

One of the biggest efforts is by AOL Music, which will host live feeds of the concerts in six cities: London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Toronto and Philadelphia. Anyone can log on and watch the shows for free, not just AOL members.

Live 8 is an effort to raise awareness about poverty and to encourage leaders of the G8 nations to forgive the debts of poorer nations, increase aid to Africa and embrace fair trade. The event is timed to coincide with the G8 summit in Scotland on July 6.

"We're living in a different world now than the first Live Aid," said Jeff Greenfield, a marketing expert who plans to blog the event. "One person's voice doesn't carry as far as just their neighbor or their friends.

Tech product placement is going into overdrive, with several prime-time shows basing plot lines around hip gadgets and gizmos. And soon, thanks to interactive "object-tracking" technology, consumers may be able to buy featured products with a click of the remote.

As consumers turn away from traditional advertising, tech marketers are picking up the slack by weaving lots of gadgets into the fabric of TV shows and movies. The net, video games and ad-skipping DVRs are forcing marketers to focus more attention on "branded entertainment."

Movies like Sony Pictures' Hitch, starring Will Smith, gave prominent placement to several Sony products, as well as the popular BlackBerry e-mail device. The plots of high-energy shows like CBS' CSI franchise, and Fox's 24 and Alias, often hinge on technology. The first season of 24, in fact, made novel use of competing computer platforms to denote the goodies and the villains.