Weekend Update, 9/26/08
by John Paczkowski
Posted on September 26, 2008 at 3:08 PM PT
As part of AllThingsD’s ongoing effort to make your world more laden with information about All Things Digital, we’ve decided to introduce a new “Weekend Update” feature.
This is our first installment:
- Microsoft abandoned its nonsequitur Seinfeld advertising strategy this week for a nonpartisan one–in which the spots themselves are watermarked “made on a Mac.” Meanwhile, Google did some advertising of its own, launching a new site solely to allay fears about its advertising partnership with Yahoo (and quoting BoomTown out of context for good effect). That won’t help advance its case, though, with the American Antitrust Institute, which believes the deal “could end up as a black hole that swallows up Yahoo.”
- Speaking of Google, Walt Mossberg offered the first comprehensive look at the Google G1, the Android phone, declaring it a contender, with many appealing features (cut-and-paste! real keyboard!), but not quite up to the iPhone’s polish.
- Seems Silicon Valley is adopting a cautious approach to tenuous economic times. As Digital Daily’s John Paczkowski wrote earlier this week, the Valley’s unemployment rate rose for the fourth consecutive month to reach a four-year high in August. Sound familiar?
- In that vein, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang released a memo outlining upper management’s intention to make the company “disciplined” and “fit.” Its fitness evaluator? Management consultants Bain & Co. No word yet on layoffs, but that doesn’t mean they’re not on the way. For your convenience, BoomTown has decoded Yang’s memo.
- During the inaugural meeting of Yahoo’s new board, first on the agenda was a discussion of AOL and its availability. While according to BoomTown, this only confirms that talks have been going on for a while now, Digital Daily opines out that a merger would be like combining two louts to make a cretin.
- Finally, Digg.com raised a $28.7 million dollar round of funding–a surprising announcement for a company recently rumored to be the object of a bidding war. Digital Daily asks: “Is Digg worth it?”
