I don’t want to become the publicity arm for every tech organization throwing contest or giveaway, but once in a while, something comes along that seems like a perfect fit for TechCrunch readers. For example: i/o Ventures , the co-working space and startup incubator based in the Mission District (that’s San Francisco’s best neighborhood, for those of you not in the know), is offering free desk space to three startups.

Facebook has been testing a new self-serve ad tool that frames ad creation in easier-to-understand terms and simplifies the steps to starting a new campaign. Now that we’ve had the opportunity to use the ad tool ourselves, we can see Facebook is making positive strides in creating a tool that small businesses and individuals can use effectively to create campaigns for their pages, apps and other content

ChoicePass is bringing its corporate perk management platform to smartphones starting today, with the launch of its Android app . CEO Kyle Lui says his goal is to “make HR sexy again.” Specifically that means helping small companies participate in perks programs that they couldn’t afford on their own, while moving larger companies’ perks into the cloud, freeing them from corporate intranet pages that no one knows about or uses. It’s a similar in a lot of ways to what BetterWorks is trying to accomplish , but Lui says that since BetterWorks doesn’t have mobile apps (yet), this is a big differentiator

This is important, so listen up.

Gillmor Gang – Doc Searls, John Taschek, Kevin Marks, Robert Scoble, and Steve Gillmor. Live recording has concluded.

There’s a huge difference between like and love.

Sure, AT&T’s One X will officially hit store shelves this Sunday, but you may be in for an early weekend treat if you’ve taken it upon yourself to pre-order the thing. According to a handful of reports from AndroidCentral’s and Phandroid’s forums, some lucky HTC fans have already received their new Android handsets well in advance of the device’s official launch. It’s a common story, really — just about every time a hotly-awaited phone nears launch, it seems like some lucky son-of-a-gun manages to score one thanks to an overeager delivery person

Portland, OR isn’t just a place where young people go to retire and hang out at urban wineries . The city also plays host to a fair number of prominent startups, including companies like Urban Airship , JanRain , Simple and Puppet Labs , as well as outposts of established players like Intel, Microsoft, IBM and eBay. To keep this momentum going, the Software Association of Oregon (SAO) launched two new initiatives this week: Portland 100 – a pilot program that will help select tech startups with finding mentors, talent and resources – and Techlandia.org

How much should you pay for a used iPhone, TV, or bicycle? Spark Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, SV Angel and more think you need to know, so they’ve invested $1.5 million into Priceonomics , a Y Combinator winter 2012 startup

Static HTML: iFrame Tabs — a utility for page owners to customize their pages with landing tabs and applications — has fallen to No. 2 on the AppData chart for top applications by monthly active users after more than 6 months at No.