First up, BoomTown’s anticipation of pistol-packin’ Carol Bartz’s first earnings appearance paid off when Bartz dropped the F-bomb, live and uncensored during Yahoo’s (YHOO) earnings call. And in a very rare occurrence–actually the company’s first-ever year-over-year quarterly sales drop–Microsoft (MSFT) glumly laid out the facts of the recession’s toll on its business. On the musical chairs front, with Chris DeWolfe stepping down as CEO of News Corp.’s (NWS) MySpace, word surfaced that Facebook alum Owen Van Natta would be stepping into the position. The news was confirmed on Friday. BoomTown has all the details, including the press release.

In the ongoing ballad of the newspaper industry, the honor of winning five Pulitzer Prizes at the New York Times (NYT) was offset by news that ad sales are down 27 percent at the paper. In further bad tidings, the newspaper industry is unlikely to get a bailout from Washington. No big takeaways from Apple’s (AAPL) earnings call–Steve’s fine and the company is still not at all interested in developing a netbook. MediaMemo has all the details in a liveblog of the call. MM also notes that Netflix (NFLX) is probably one of the only businesses to benefit from the recession so far since folks are far more likely to rent DVDs than venture out to the local multiplex during these hard times.

In Personal Technology this week, Walt Mossberg discusses the many new OS and system developments coming down the pike that should inform new computer buyers in the near future. In Mossberg’s Mailbox, Walt lays out the details for syncing to an iPhone on MobileMe. And in the Mossberg Solution, Katie Boehret explores the new Nintendo DSi. Compared with earlier iterations of the DS line, as well as on its own merits, it wins some well-deserved praise.

More next week. And RIP, Bea Arthur.

PREVIOUSLY:

• Analyst: The Great Dark Times Cometh!
• Wall Street: Give Me Something to Stop the Bleeding
• GOOG at $398? Clearly, You’re Dyslexic
• WaMu: Epic Bail
• Ballmer: Better Safe Than Lehman Bros.
• Lehman Brothers: $2.5 Billion for a Bankruptcy Well Done
• Here’s $39 Billion in Recognition for Your Hard Work on the Forthcoming Financial Crisis
• Weekend at Bernanke’s II
• Weekend at Bernankes