Joe Wilcox / Microsoft Watch:
Windows Live Gets More Lively  —  Microsoft is building on principles first articulated in 2005.  In Washington, D.C., I remember meeting several MSN product managers who laid out a simple but profound approach: Connect people to whom they know.  Recognizing that most blogs and photo shares …

Owen Thomas / Valleywag:
Extremely literal boss demotes editor to columnist  —  In the wake of his apocalyptic predictions for the online-advertising market, Nick Denton, the owner of Valleywag publisher Gawker Media, read my offhand quip about how I would soon be writing Valleywag as a column for Gizmodo or Gawker …

Matt Marshall / VentureBeat:
The VC model is broken  —  These days, the more you talk to folks about Silicon Valley’s venture capital industry, the more negative the message is becoming.  —  And for good reason.  There’s no more patience.  Last time, circa 2001, the entire VC industry got a “get-out-jail-free card” after the Internet […]

Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Valleywag To Become Section of Gawker.com  —  Rumors are flying that Valleywag will be “shuttered.”  It won’t.  It will be consolidated into Gawker.  —  Gawker CEO Nick Denton foreshadowed this move in this sky-is-falling post this morning.  Valleywag’s 1 million uniques will be worth …

Greg Sandoval / CNET News:
YouTube lets advertisers buy search terms  —  SAN BRUNO, Calif.—YouTube said Wednesday that it’s rolling out a new ad platform called Sponsored Videos.  —  According to YouTube, which held a press conference at its headquarters, here’s how it works: First, YouTube users …

Kasper Jade / AppleInsider:
Apple may launch most aggressive Black Friday sale yet  —  With Black Friday sale information from rival PC vendors beginning to leak online, experts at Barclays Capital say they expect Apple to counter the promotions with a more aggressive than usual one-day sale, offering deep discounts on a number of Mac […]

Dawn Kawamoto / CNET News:
LG, Sharp, Chunghwa admit to LCD price fixing  —  Updated at 11:51 a.m. with more information on the case.  —  LG Display, Sharp, and Chunghwa Picture Tubes agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges for participating in a liquid crystal display price-fixing conspiracy and pay $585 million in fines … […]

The Boy Genius / Boy Genius Report:
Nokia’s half QWERTY device, Wahoo, headed for AT&T gets pictured; Sorry Charlie!  —  Well, what do we have here?  It seems as if it’s a never before seen Nokia handset!  We don’t have a name to call it other than the internal codename, “Wahoo”, but what we can […]

Nick Denton:
A 2009 Internet Media Plan  —  To judge from a hysterical press, one might think the apocalypse was already upon the media industry: rolling cuts this month at Time Inc., the hallowed magazine group; a new catchphrase among advertising pundits, flat is the new up; and revisions …

Ryan Singel / Wired News:
Classmates.com User Sues; Schoolmates Weren’t Really Looking for Him  —  When Classmates.com told user Anthony Michaels last Christmas Eve that his former school chums were trying to contact him, he pulled out his wallet and upgraded to the premium membership that would let him contact long …