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Yahoo pink slips issued, recruiters circling above

Updated 2:43 p.m. PST with precise layoff total.

Updated at 7:23 p.m. PST with comments from Yahoo employees.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--Yahoo began issuing pink slips Wednesday to the majority of the employees affected by its previously announced 10 percent job cut, the company confirmed.

Most of the 1,520 layoffs affect employees at Yahoo's U.S.-based locations and come from a number of areas within the company, the company said.

"There was an across-the-board review (for potential cuts) and no one area received a pass," said Brad Williams, a Yahoo spokesman, who … Read more

Yahoo investor urges Microsoft search deal

Update at 7:29 p.m. PDT with closing stock price

Major Yahoo investor Ivory Investment Management on Wednesday called on Yahoo's board to restart talks with Microsoft and offered up a search buyout proposal that it claims could yield investors a value of $24 to $29 per share.

Ivory, which holds a 1.5 percent stake in Yahoo, is proposing Yahoo sell its search business to Microsoft for an upfront payment of approximately $15 billion, in which Microsoft then becomes the search provider for all of Yahoo's properties and its existing affiliates.

Microsoft would own and operate … Read more

HP unveils displays that yields to the touch

As many of the comments on a post I wrote on Friday point out, I can at times be shortsighted to potential applications of new technology. When it comes to flexible display technology, however, I practically have telescopic vision. Well at least as far as Hollywood has shown me.

On Monday, Hewlett-Packard and the Flexible Display Center (FDC) at Arizona State University announced the purported first prototype of what they call affordable, unbreakable flexible electronic displays.

For the uninitiated, a flexible display is a paperlike computer display that's made almost entirely out of plastic. According to HP, these displays … Read more

Report: Yahoo CEO search narrowing

Yahoo's search for a new CEO is narrowing, with former Vodafone Group chief Arun Sarin reportedly on the list, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Yahoo has authorized reference checks for a few candidates in order to narrow the field even further so the informal search committee can make a recommendation to the board of directors, according to the report.

And while the CEO selection process has moved at a rapid clip since co-founder and CEO Jerry Yang announced in mid-November he would step down as soon as a replacement is found, the process could very … Read more

Pretzel Rod Display Stand for your pretzel display needs

Who knew? Every once in a while I come across a kitchen item that completely baffles me. Usually it is some sort of Frankenstein creation that merges two common tasks into one unit. Another popular item to find, however, is an appliance that is dedicated to one task, and one task only. These devices are likely to be large and priced to attract would-be gift-givers, but ultimately they turn out to be mostly useless. But every now and again I stumble across something that just seems to arise out of a natural need.

The Pretzel Rod Display Stand is one … Read more

Report: Yahoo layoffs to come Wednesday

Christmas is coming and so are the pink slips.

Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang noted in his post-quarterly earnings e-mail to employees in late October that employees affected by the 10 percent job cut would be "notified of layoffs in the next several weeks" -- that is, before Thanksgiving.

Apparently it took a little longer to wade through the approximately 1,430 positions.

A report in Dow Jones' AllThingsD site notes that the pink slips are expected Wednesday morning and will be across the board.

And while Yang, in the most recent earnings report call, noted that further layoffs … Read more

DeWolfe: 'Cautiously optimistic' about MySpace in recession

MySpace Chief Executive Chris DeWolfe said that he's "cautiously optimistic" about ad revenue for the News Corp.-owned social network in the face of a recession, Reuters reported Monday.

Speaking at the outlet's Reuters Media Summit, DeWolfe said that MySpace's "revenue and profits are significant and they continue to grow in spite of the poor economy." Fox Interactive Media, the News Corp. division that encompasses MySpace, Photobucket, and other digital properties, was declared the top destination for display ads on the Web several months ago.

But display ads will be hit hard as … Read more

eMarketer lops $1.3B off 2008 online ad estimate

Analyst firm eMarketer has reduced its estimate for online ad spending in 2008 to $23.6 billion from its August estimate of $24.9 billion, with this year's online ad growth rate of 11.3 percent dropping to 8.9 percent in 2009.

Looking on the bright side, eMarketer said in a statement, "It is important to note that the lowered estimate still represents an increase of 11.3 percent over 2007 spending." And eMarketer expects spending to reach $25.7 billion in 2009, $28.5 billion in 2010, and ultimately $42 billion in 2013.

But the … Read more

100-inch screen for Clintons and Kings of the world

A few weeks back I was watching Larry King Live, and his guest was Bill Clinton. They were talking about the financial crisis and Bill said something to the effect of, "You and I, we're going to be fine. Guys like us don't have to worry."

I guess guys like them are about the only people who could actually afford Runco's $40,000 VideoWall VW-100HD 100-inch display.

Now, of course there are businesses that will be interested in purchasing a 100-inch screen, but I get the feeling Runco sells more than a few of these to individuals as well, since according to the company, it is the "leading brand in luxury video solutions."

OK, enough of my bitter "I don't make as much money as Bill Clinton and Larry King and never will" hate speak.

The screen supports full 1080p HD resolution, and according to Runco, its VideoWalls are not as susceptible to the washed-out effect ambient light can have on screens. Runco's "Constant Contrast" technology allows the screen to incorporate frame-by-frame contrast correction to keep black levels low, regardless of ambient light, and the VW-100HD can purportedly reach contrast ratios in excess of 5000:1 ANSI.… Read more