Once again for old time’s sake, the Yahoo (YHOO)-Microsoft (MSFT) soap opera in Digital Daily intros, with apologies to Steven Spielberg, Mel Blanc, Queen, Neil Diamond, Barbra Streisand, Tallulah Bankhead, Marlene Dietrich and the entire cast of “The Sound of Music.” (Originally published June 16, 2008.)

Digital Daily covered the Steve Jobs story this week, starting with the all-hands memo in which the Apple (AAPL) founder announced his medical leave and following through with the reactions of both Wall Street and the company’s investors. Then there’s the general response, which has been variously diagnosing Jobs’s health issues and predicting the demise of Apple without him–not without good reason, but quite a departure from the reaction when Bill Gates left Microsoft (MSFT). Digital Daily also noted that even though Palm’s (PALM) stock price made a jump directly after the introduction of the Pre and its new Web OS, the company will need to sell a lot of phones in order to attract a robust community of developers. And let’s not forget the roll call of fallen companies, including two of the latest to fall victim to the econalypse, Nortel (NT) and Circuit City (CC).

Can Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim save the New York Times? MediaMemo had the story of the gray lady’s possible white knight, plus coverage of some recent ideas about how newspapers in general can be rescued from a grim fate. Hint: not by a Facebook event. There are some bright spots for traditional media, though, made possible by the increasingly social Web. Incredible photos are often made available for free and as news is breaking, saving editors from the limitations and high prices they’re accustomed to from established agencies. A perfect example arose this week when U.S. Airways flight 1549 made a spectacular emergency landing on the Hudson. Twitter, a camera phone and an incredible photo almost singlehandedly changed the way people think about citizen journalism–as an aid to, not a replacement for, professional reporting.

At the Consumer Electronics Show, BoomTown moderated the SuperSession panel titled “What Will They Think of Next? Consumer Technology in 2025.” A lot of the discussion involved pretty much the general consensus of what’s on the horizon, but there were some edgier ideas from the panel, which included an interesting cross section of the digital industry. BoomTown interviewed all of the participants on camera afterward about their visions of 2025, and some of the results were pretty funny. Of course, BoomTown had a say about the various degrees of silence and hysteria surrounding Steve Jobs’s health issues, urging people to put things in perspective, and evoking his 2005 commencement speech, in which he advised graduates to “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.” BoomTown says: Not this foolish. The passing of the leadership torch at Yahoo (YHOO) took center stage last week, starting with the classy exit of Sue Decker and her memo to the troops. Next up: Yahoo’s official announcement of Carol Bartz as CEO and her first words as its fearless leader: “Yahoooo!” and “Friggin’.” Here’s full coverage of the transition.

Walt Mossberg voiced his strong and sensible opinion about the media circus surrounding Steve Jobs’s leave of absence on Fox Business last week, which is, first and foremost, concern for the man and best wishes for his recovery. On the gadget front, he discusses different options for putting e-books on your cellphone and Web OS, the new operating system that debuted with the Palm Pre. Katie Boehret looked at a couple of Web search tools that deliver better results by paying attention to what results you click on.

More next week. Wait–later this week.

Shares of the deteriorating Internet company slipped on news of the impending announcement, falling more than two percent to $11.96. Earlier in the day, they’d been trading at $12.79.

Clearly, Bartz’s appointment doesn’t appear to be inspiring much confidence in investors–at least at the outset. Perhaps all her enterprise experience is proving a bit of a turnoff. Ten years as vice president at Sun Microsystems (JAVA). Board seats at Intel (INTC), Cisco Systems (CSCO), and NetApp (NTAP). Where’s the Internet experience? Where’s Steve Jobs? Surely he could right this sinking ship.

“She was an inoffensive, but largely unexciting candidate–someone who would be a steady hand at the wheel–but investors were hoping for a lot more than that,” Jeff Lindsay, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein in New York, told Bloomberg. “She’s undoubtedly a competent and able executive. The problem is, is she the right fit for the job?”

Likely a better fit than Jerry Yang. And that’s a start, right? Oh, there’s this as well: When Bartz started at Autodesk it had revenues of $285 million. Today it generates about $1.5 billion.

Says Needham analyst Mark May:

If the reports are accurate, our initial reaction is that we view Bartz as a good choice because:

Of course, there is more we’d like to see/hear before making our final determination, such as i) what’s Bartz’s strategy/vision; ii) will current President Sue Decker resign; iii) will Bartz hire a strong #2 w/ new media experience; and, iv) will Chairman Roy Bostock resign. That said, our initial reaction to the possibility of Bartz being named Yahoo!’s new CEO is favorable.

Digital Daily was on hand at Macworld ’09 Monday. Despite the flurry of wonky reporting about the health and/or “imminent death” of Steve Jobs–put into perspective here by BoomTown–nothing too remarkable happened during Apple’s (AAPL) final appearance at the annual event. Phil Schiller did a solid job delivering the keynote in Jobs’s place, introducing a new 17-inch MacBook Pro with an eight-hour internal battery and some innovative updates to iWork and iLife. Schiller ended his keynote with the announcement of changes in pricing and digital rights management for iTunes, punctuated by the surprise appearance of crooner Tony Bennett. Apparently, as Bennett sang, the best is yet to come. Crack photojournalist Adam Tow was on hand to capture the keynote in its entirety–All Things Digital’s photo coverage can be found here.

MediaMemo reported from CES about the pervasive 3-D theme of the conference and wondered whether people would pay cash to see a football game in 3-D at a theater instead of just staying home. There was the ongoing litany of the casualties of the econalypse: “Semantic” ad network Peer39 shut down its ad operation this week, Hearst is about to pull the plug on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Forbes announced layoffs and Sir Howard Stringer announced the elimination of thousands of jobs at Sony (SNE). MediaMemo also caught the much anticipated introduction of Palm’s (PALM) new smartphone, the Palm Pre, and its new Web OS, a combo Palm deems superior to the iPhone and that many others consider Palm’s last chance for survival. The product’s success or failure will have a lot to do with its pricing, about which there’s much disbelief.

BoomTown had the lowdown this week on an amusing rumor about a Microsoft-backed (MSFT) run at Yahoo (YHOO), the emergence of Carol Bartz as the top prospect for Yahoo CEO and Microsoft’s deal with Verizon (VZ) and Dell (DELL) to distribute search. Jerry Yang submitted to the all-seeing eye of BoomTown’s Flip camera along with Yahoo President Sue Decker to talk about Yahoo’s new product, Connected TV. The camera also caught some chatty attendees and a few demos, including one of a new Disney (DIS) music product given by a guy who looked like a member of ZZ Top.

Speaking of ZZ Top, catch gadget godfather Walt Mossberg trying out some 3-D glasses on his annual odyssey around the convention floor. All he needs is a longer beard and a ‘32 Ford and he could be a band member, too. Walt and colleague Katie Boehret caught many of the more interesting gadgets on video, and Walt previewed some more for FOX News.

More next week.

Looks like it’s fallen to Yahoo President Sue Decker, and not CEO Jerry Yang, to paint a happy face on the collapse of the company’s deal with Google.

In an all-hands memo to employees, Decker said there’s really no reason to despair at Yahoo’s (YHOO) uncertain future, because the company’s agreement with Google (GOOG) was “just one of many efforts” it has underway to accelerate its strategy.

Decker’s memo, in full:

Earlier today we announced that Google has terminated the advertising services agreement Yahoo! and Google announced in June. Yahoo! continues to believe in the benefits of the agreement and we are disappointed that Google has elected to withdraw from the agreement rather than defend it in court. Google notified us of its refusal to move forward with implementation of the agreement, following an indication from the Department of Justice that it would seek to block it, despite Yahoo!’s proposed revisions to address the DOJ’s concerns.

Sue

Please let us know if you have questions? Ha! Where to begin …

Hug it out, Sue. Hug it out.

The Yahoo-Microsoft debacle in Digital Daily intros, with apologies to Steven Speilberg, Mel Blanc, Queen, Neil Diamond, Barbara Streisand, Tallulah Bankhead & Marlene Dietrich, and the entire cast of The Sound of Music.

During her keynote at the Advertising 2.0 conference in New York today, Yahoo President Sue Decker (pictured above with Jerry Yang) announced the company’s latest online advertising initiatives, among them a multiyear video and display ad deal with Walmart.com (WMT), a global partnership with interactive agency Havas Digital (which will be an early adopter of the company’s AMP platform), an agreement with CBS (CBS) that will see the network’s programming added to the Yahoo TV lineup, and a new newspaper marketing program called Yahoo Circular, which allows retailers to deliver “personalized” newspaper circulars to Yahoo users.

Amazing how the fear of a hostile takeover can motivate a company, isn’t it?

Notably absent from this smorgasbord of partnerships: a deal with Microsoft, which these days seems the only thing that will appease the company’s irate shareholders. That said, such a deal could still be in the works. During an appearance on CNBC’s “Power Lunch” today, Decker said Yahoo remains “engaged” in “ongoing” discussions with Microsoft. “What I said today, I think is pretty consistent with what [Microsoft CEO] Steve Ballmer said last week at the D Conference … which is that Microsoft has indicated that it’s in discussions with us about various partnerships,” she explained. “I can’t comment on the specifics of any kind of discussions.”

This year’s D conference had its share of great lines–tired ones, too (we’re all clear on the subject of Facebook and information sharing, right?). Here’s a selection of the former…

Guys like us avoid monopolies. We like to compete.”

–Microsoft (MSFT) Chairman Bill Gates

AOL is the Rodney Dangerfield of the Web. We don’t get no respect.”

–Jeff Bewkes, president and CEO, Time Warner (TWX)

I will probably never be a CEO again.”

–Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Jerry Yang states the obvious

It’s a company that creates technology.”

–Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg answers the question, “What is a technology company?”

Did you have anything to do with the New York Post’s endorsement of Obama?”

–Walt Mossberg to Rupert Murdoch

“Yeah.”

–Rupert Murdoch to Walt Mossberg

I didn’t leave business school to go bankrupt.”

–Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on his first days at Microsoft

You would have loved Windows 1.0, Walt. You would have LOVED it.”

–Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer

Microsoft’s philosophy is to ‘do things better.’ And Vista has given us lots of opportunity to do that.”

–Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates

Microsoft Bob? All Bill’s idea.”

–Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer of Microsoft Corp.

It makes revolutionary desserts you never could have imagined!”

–Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer recalls the slogan he used to market Coldsnap Freezer Dessert Makers at Proctor & Gamble

C’mon, you CAN’T be happy with the way this Vista thing has gone.”

–Walt Mossberg to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer

In some ways the Web is the most important book in the world.”

–Jeff Bezos, CEO, Amazon.com (AMZN)

We try to stick to violence against small animals.”

– Activision (ATVI) CEO Bobby Kotick on violence in the company’s games.

I have to determine whether the joy of craplets is worth preserving.”

–Sony (SNE) CEO Howard Stringer on craplets on Sony PCs

Facebook is all about information and helping people share it.”

–Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg demonstrate “I-Have-Nothing -To-Say-And-I-Am-Saying-It” public relations.

‘Sharing information?’ Isn’t that a drinking game? Every time Mark Zuckerberg says it you have to drink.”

–Kara Swisher

Page got one of the two chairs and Schmidt wound up on the floor.”

–Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on meeting with Google’s (GOOG) Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt in his spartan apartment.

All lives are equal.”

–Melinda Gates, co-chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on D6 Highlights

Betamax 2.”

–Sony CEO Howard Stringer on what his epitaph would have been had Sony lost the DVD format war.

If we were any more successful, we’d be bankrupt.”

–Sony CEO Howard Stringer on the success of Sony’s LCD business.

Hollywood is a community that’s so inbred, it’s a wonder the children have any teeth.”

–Barry Diller, chairman and CEO, IAC (IACI)

People loved their horses, too. But you don’t keep riding your horse to work just because you love it.”

–Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the difference between physical books and digital ones

I could take him.”

–Dell (DELL) CEO Michael Dell on his chances of success in a brawl with Apple CEO Steve Jobs

It’s amazing how elastic the human brain turns out to be.”

–DEKA Research founder Dean Kamen

It’s like Baby Mama, with me as the mama.”

–Intellectual Ventures founder Nathan Myhrvold explains the company’s “invest in inventions” business model.

Windows 95 was a nice milestone.”

–Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates on one of the high points of his career

I won’t ever stop until you’re either the biggest thing around, or you’re dead.”

–Kara Swisher on her relentless coverage of Facebook

We think they’re fantastic … But you don’t want anyone to be a monopoly.”

–Rupert Murdoch on Google

Coming from Google, you don’t exactly spend a lot of time at Microsoft.”

–Facebook COO and former Vice President of Global Online Sales and Operations at Google Sheryl Sandberg

We’re trying to outbook the book.”

–Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on Kindle.

There go the dairy ads.”

– Walt Mossberg on 23andMe’s discovery that colleague Kara Swisher is lactose intolerant

We didn’t buy Alaska to save a couple of elk.”

–News Corporation (NWS) Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch on Alaska as a solution to the current fuel crisis.

Where’s Rupert’s elk-despising gene?”

–Kara Swisher while reviewing Murdoch’s genotype

That’s not serious … he just wants to make himself a few hundred million dollars …”

–Rupert Murdoch on Carl Icahn’s proxy fight for Yahoo

You’re the chairman of the FCC. How did you allow this to happen?”

–Walt Mossberg grills FCC Chairman Kevin Martin on the lousy broadband situation in the states.

No. Better to let history make itself, as it always has, and focus on making news. And it’s likely there will be quite a bit of it coming out of D: All Things Digital 6. With this year’s lineup, how could there not? Microsoft’s Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer onstage together just a month before Gates steps back from his day-to-day duties as company chairman. Time Warner (TWX) CEO Jeff Bewkes talking strategy as the media giant prepares to spin off Time Warner Cable and tries to figure out just what the hell to do with AOL. Lowell McAdam of Verizon Wireless (VZ) and FCC Chaiman Kevin Martin appearing separately, but together offering an insider view of the telecom industry as it grapples with issues of Net neutrality, open access and early termination fees. And then there’s Yahoo’s (YHOO) Jerry Yang and Sue Decker, who’ve been struggling to right a foundering Internet pioneer as it battles Google (GOOG), Microsoft, investor-agitator Carl Icahn and itself.

And that’s just a sampling. Clearly, there’s much to talk about. Much news to be made.

Sure, we may not have managed to arrange another tete-a-tete as historic as last year’s Gates/Jobs interview.

But we did manage to get Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Yahoo Co-Founder Jerry Yang on the same stage–albeit at different times. Still, no easy feat, that.

And who knows, perhaps we’ll get them onstage together as well.

So join us at d6.allthingsd.com tomorrow for as-it-happens, all-access coverage of the conference. Liveblogs of the sessions and demos. Videos of the speakers. Photos of attendees. You’ll find it all here.

(Photo illustration by Beth Callaghan)

Today investors are doing just that. Sadly for Yang, it’s with criticisms and epithets, not calls to arms. Seems Yahoo (YHOO) investors’ view of what that exclamation point stands for post-Microsoft (MSFT) differ just a wee bit from Yang’s. What follows is a selection of reader comments on Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang’s “OK, So Now What?” blog post:

• Dear Mr. Yang, You had the opportunity to provide your shareholders and dying company with a somewhat respectable exit. A 70% premium sat in your lap and you had the ARROGANCE to ask for more.

• I don’t doubt that the pro-Microsoft crowd is celebrating right now. I’ll bet no one in Redmond wants to go through the pain of integrating with a company that has undergone an engineering talent-exodus and is becoming irrelevant in its core technologies. So as a Microsoft shareholder, thank you for acting in my best interests. Had you accepted Microsoft’s offer it would most certainly have crippled Ballmer and company.
• Hi Jerry, Nice job. … Now will you please buy my 500 shares at $31. I mean it’s a great deal for you since your stock is worth $37 as you say.
• How are you going to turn this aging hippy around? How about coming out and announcing Yahoo’s new strategy. You can start by appointing Sue Decker CEO.