Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
TechMeme Gives Up On Fully Automated News  —  3+ year old TechMeme, an automated news site that shows breaking news clustered by topic, has always generated “headlines” by analyzing how news sites link to each other.  If a lot of sites start linking to something unique, TechMeme guesses it’s news.

Nate Raymond / amlawdaily.typepad.com:
Hogan’s Litvack Discusses Google/Yahoo  —  Google Inc. and Yahoo! Inc. called off their joint advertising agreement just three hours before the Department of Justice planned to file antitrust charges to block the pact, according to the lawyer who would have been lead counsel for the government.

Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Adobe lays off 600 workers, CS4 demand weaker than expected  —  Adobe said Wednesday that it will eliminate 600 full-time positions, or roughly 8 percent of its workforce, amid weaker than expected fourth quarter earnings.  —  The company said in a statement that it will deliver fourth …

Jim Dalrymple / Macworld:
Adobe will not exhibit at Macworld Expo 2009  —  Adobe, a major player in the Mac software market, will not be among the developers exhibiting on the show floor at next month’s Macworld Conference & Expo.  The company confirmed its Expo plans to Macworld on Tuesday.

Groklaw NewsPicks:
Apple Tells Court It Believes Someone Is Behind Psystar; Adds New Claims, Including DMCA Violation  —  Apple has filed a motion to amend its complaint [PDF] to add a claim of violation of the DMCA, among other new and enlarged claims.  Here’s the proposed Amended Complaint [PDF].

Claire Cain Miller / Bits:
Why Twitter Turned Down Facebook  —  For now, a marriage between Twitter and Facebook is not meant to be — but the courtship between the two Web 2.0 companies could be rekindled in the future.  That was one message from Ev Williams, the chief executive and co-founder of Twitter … […]

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
588 Kleiner Perkins iFund Applications Accidentally Published To Web  —  Kleiner Perkins’s iFund is a $100 million fund to invest in startups building applications for the iPhone.  —  Startups that wish to apply for funding can fill out an online application here.

Tom Krazit / CNET News:
Analyst: iPod shortage spreading  —  An iPod shortage at Amazon.com appears to have spread to other distribution channels, according to an analyst.  —  Shaw Wu of Kaufman Bros. reports that after checking in with his retail sources, he believes that Apple is experiencing an iPod shortage …

Techmeme News:
Guess what?  Automated news doesn’t quite work.  —  Any competent developer who tries to automate the selection of news headlines will inevitably discover that this approach always comes up a bit short.  Automation does indeed bring a lot to the table — humans can’t possibly discover and organize news as fast as computers […]

Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
Stores Clueless About Mobile Barcode Scanning Applications?  —  With the rise of app-laden smartphones like the iPhone and Google’s Android OS, now on T-Mobile’s G1, many penny-pinching shoppers have downloaded barcode scanning applications onto their mobile devices.