Top Items:
Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:
Start Up the Risk-Takers — Reading the news that General Motors and Chrysler are now lining up for another $20 billion or so in government aid — on top of the billions they've already received or requested — leaves me with the sick feeling that we are subsidizing the losers and for only one reason …
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Fred / A VC:
A Stimulus Plan For Venture Capital? No Thanks. — Tom Friedman, who I admire in many ways, has an op-ed piece in today's NY Times where he suggests that the US government take the bailout money they are thinking of giving to the auto industry and instead give it to the top venture capital firms.
Nick Denton:
Gawker, now incorporating Defamer — It's Oscars day, a good a time as any to do this: Hollywood gossip site Defamer is being merged into Gawker, the company's flagship gossip title. The four-year-old title will continue as Gawker's entertainment column; the movie-industry stories …
Discussion:
RyanSpoon.com, CNET News, Silicon Alley Insider, Gawker, Sean Percival's Blog and Pulse2
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Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Say Goodbye To Hollywood: Gawker Valleywags Defamer — Here's what should be the last step in Nick Denton's slimdown of his Gawker Media empire: The blog network is taking its LA-based Defamer site and rolling it up under its central Gawker title. The site's existing writers will leave …
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Oops: Microsoft Asks Some Laid Off Workers To Send Back Part Of Their Severance — Talk about adding insult to injury. Apparently Microsoft has inadvertently overpaid severance to some of its recently laid off employees, and is now asking for some of the money back.
Discussion:
Between the Lines, Silicon Alley Insider, CNET News, Gizmodo, Boy Genius Report, Kotaku, BetaNews, The Microsoft Blog, Neowin.net, JCXP, Computerworld Blogs, GeekSmack, TechFlash, Pulse2, Slashdot and digg.com, Thanks:atul
Randall Stross / New York Times:
Everyone Loves Google, Until It's Too Big — THE popularity of Google's search engine in the United States just grows and grows. In the past three years, its market share gains have even been accelerating, making some people wonder whether the company will eventually obliterate what remains of its competition in search.
Discussion:
Beyond Search, Screenwerk, Life On the Wicked Stage, The Noisy Channel and digg.com, Thanks:atul
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Apple 2.0:
Report: Steve Jobs has logged off — It takes him nine paragraphs to get to it, but there's a nugget of Apple (AAPL) news in Robert X. Cringely's latest column, “Where's Steve?,” published Saturday. — Cringely, the pen name of former InfoWorld and PBS columnist Mark Stephens …
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Joseph Tartakoff / The Microsoft Blog:
Microsoft hopes to train 2 million in basic tech skills — Microsoft Corp. said Sunday that in response to the economic crisis it would sponsor an initiative to help train up to two million people in basic technology skills. — Pamela Passman, Microsoft's corporate vice president …
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Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Facebook Photos Pulls Away From The Pack — If Facebook has one standout application it has to be Photos. Measured on its own, it is the largest photo site on the Web. A full 69 percent of Facebook's monthly visitors worldwide either look at or upload photos, based on comScore data.
Thanks:atul
diego's weblog:
what “web 2.0” really means — and why “web 3.0” will never come — I generally have a bad reaction to fads but perhaps as strong a reaction to things that can be easily turned into them, or misappropriated as such. — “Web 2.0,” which Tim O'Reilly & Co. coined back in 2004 …
Andy Pemberton / Times of London:
A load of Twitter — Feel the need to tell everyone everything you're doing all of the time? Then tweeting is for you — “Arse, poo and widdle.” With this unholy trinity of coy expletives, Stephen Fry introduced us to the joys of Twitter earlier this month. Fry was stuck in a lift and posted a “tweet” about it.
Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
Best Buy Offering iPhone Discounts of as Much as $100 to ‘Reward Zone’ Members — Best Buy this week is offering significant discounts on the iPhone to current members of its Reward Zone loyalty points program. Regular Reward Zone members can save $50, bringing the price to $149 for the 8 GB model or $249 for the 16 GB models.
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Tim Armstrong's “Patch” To Cash In On Death Of Newspapers? — With newspapers croaking right and left, American citizens are justifiably wondering what or who is going to fill the local-paper vacuum. To that end, a handful of companies have tried to float new local news models.
