Feed: Digital Daily - AggScore: 78.6

In tough economic times such as these, even the biggest businesses get the urge to restructure, re-org and reshuffle. Kara reported on several big breakups (of the tech variety), including the seperation of AOL from TimeWarner. Even good ol' icq got into the mix.

Nokia’s workforce is deteriorating nearly as fast as its share of the mobile phone market. This morning, the company--which sacked 1,700 employees in March and another 450 in April--said it will cut 330 more jobs in its research and development group.

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The latest revision of the Google Books settlement has been granted preliminary approval by a New York district judge, though it will be some time before that approval is finalized--if it is finalized. Judge Denny Chin of the Southern District of New York said Thursday that he will hold a hearing Feb. 18 on the new agreement, which will restore access to millions of out-of-print books, but may also one day give the company a monopoly on the largest digital library in the world.

The European Union’s formal objection to Oracle’s proposed acquisition of Sun has evidently transformed the database giant’s intransigence into grudging agreeability. The EU has extended the deadline for approval of the $7.4 billion merger to Jan. 27 from Jan. 19 at Oracle’s request.

QOTD “Frankly, the economy is good for us, because people do understand that Macintoshes are quite a bit more expensive for essentially the same computer.” – Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says the econalypse has improved the competitive position for Windows at Apple’s expense.

Apple has reportedly decided to postpone the launch of its rumored tablet/slate until the second half of 2010. That’s the latest rumor from the occasionally reliable Digitimes, which claims that the device’s original March 2010 debut target became untenable after some component changes. The report, should it prove true, will no doubt be a disappointment to overanxious tabletites awaiting the mysterious device’s arrival, but really, that's immaterial to Apple.

Google released a lot of visual material to support the introduction today of its Chrome OS. Many guessed Google's intention to create an OS once the Chrome browser was released, since it had a feature set that was so much like an operating system. For many, this is a first glimpse into that project.

Google's Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management and Matthew Papakipos, engineering director for Google Chrome OS--joined by founder Sergey Brin--discuss how they plan to bring the OS to the market, then answer some questions from the audience.

Direct from Google headquarters, and liveblogged by John Paczkowski, Google's Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management and Matthew Papakipos, engineering director for Google Chrome OS, explain some of the advantages of the operating system: Speed, simplicity and security.

Direct from Google headquarters, Vice President of Product Management Sundar Pichai explains that the company's forthcoming Chrome OS could signal the end of desktop apps as we know them.

Speaking at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans this past July, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said of Google’s forthcoming Chrome OS, "Who knows what this thing is?” Today, he found out. The operating system, a direct challenge to Microsoft Windows, was on display at a media gathering at the company’s HQ this morning, and in the words of Sundar Pichai, Google's vice president of product management, it is intended to make computing a "delightful" experience.

The official price of Palm’s new Pixi smartphone is $99.95, but Wal-Mart is now offering the handset for $24.99 with a two-year contract, as is Amazon. That’s a 75 percent price cut. Staggering, considering the Pixi arrived at market just four days ago.

QOTD “You start off by saying I want these cabinets this counter top and this kind of a sink and all of a sudden you’ve got this kitchen you can’t afford and don’t have the time to build. That’s pretty much the first phase of building a laptop.” — Microsoft Windows division president Steven [...]

Verizon was right. The truth does hurt. And it is especially painful when it’s meted out by a court of law. A U.S. District judge on Wednesday denied AT&T’s request to force Verizon to pull its "There’s A Map For That" and "Island of Misfit Toys" commercials, saying that while the ads might be "sneaky," they are they are not misleading.