Peter Kafka / Silicon Alley Insider:
“BigNews”: Ask’s Digg Project Revealed (IACI)  —  Here’s the Ask.com/Digg collaboration we’d heard about earlier this week, but it may be less than we’d advertised: “BigNews” is actually more of an attempt to create a new spin on Techmeme/Google News than a ripoff of Digg’s social news site.

Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
MySpace’s San Francisco Debut in Living Color!  —  Last night, BoomTown checked out the new space MySpace is renovating for its soon-to-open San Francisco office.  The occasion was a party the social-networking site held for developers as part of its recent platform launch.

Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Microsoft Bid for Yahoo Drops To $29.50 a Share  —  As Yahoo waits in vain for other bidders or deal alternatives to emerge, the dissatisfaction of Microsoft investors with the Yahoo bid has reduced the value of Microsoft’s offer to $29.50 a share.  —  Why?  — The bid is […]

Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
AOL revenue continues to slide; Who are these 9.3 million AOL access subscribers?  —  AOL’s revenue and operating income continued to slide as the parent Time Warner focuses on advertising.  For the fourth quarter, AOL reported operating income of $274 million on revenue of $1.25 billion.

Justin Smith / Inside Facebook:
Notes from tonight’s MySpace Developer Platform launch  —  MySpace officially announced the MySpace Developer Platform to the developer community tonight at the MDP Launch Party in San Francisco.  Many of the top Facebook developers were in attendance to meet the MySpace Development Platform team.

Asma Ali Zain / Khaleej Times:
Cable damage hits 1.7m Internet users in UAE  —  DUBAI — An estimated 1.7 million Internet users in the UAE have been affected by the recent undersea cable damage, an expert said yesterday, quoting recent figures published by TeleGeography, an international research Web site.

Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Ex-Googlers Launch Instructional Video Site Howcast, Raise $8 Million A Round  —  A New York City startup called Howcast is launching today that wants to be the YouTube of instructional videos.  In fact, the three founders—Jason Liebman, Daniel Blackman and Sanjay Raman …

Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
The Latest From Jerry: Stay Focused, Yahoos!  —  Yet another employee letter to Yahoos from CEO Jerry Yang has now become public, thanks to Yahoo being required to file these things with the US Securities & Exchange Commission.  It makes you wonder why Yahoo (and Microsoft) …

Josh Bernoff / Groundswell:
Why Social Applications Will Thrive In A Recession  —  Is a recession coming?  Don’t ask me — I’m not an economist, and even the economists don’t really know.  But if it’s anything like the last recession, advertising will plummet and experimental media will crater.

Greg Sandoval / CNET News.com:
Video site Revver shopping itself for a song  —  Revver, a YouTube competitor that made a name for itself by paying video producers, has fallen on hard times.  —  The company’s staff has dwindled to less than half the size it was 18 months ago, according to former employees.