Alanat News

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: In a deal that signifies further reordering in Hollywood's specialty movie business, the Universal Pictures unit of General Electric completed its sale of Rogue Pictures, a maker and distributor of lower-cost films, to Relativity Media for about $150 million.
The deal closed quietly just before Christmas and was disclosed by the companies on Sunday.
The transaction pointed toward GE's willingness to bolster profit with help from an asset …

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Those who want to bring the wide world of Web video to their television screens usually need a separate device — a video-game console, DVD player or set-top box with Internet access.
Now they will be able to take a more direct route. LG Electronics, the third-largest television manufacturer in terms of U.S. sales, will announce Monday a line of televisions that can directly receive Internet video in addition to satellite and cable signals.
LG's …

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: Lenovo Group, seeking to set itself apart in a crowded field of laptop competitors, is releasing what the company says is the first dual-screen notebook computer.
It is one of several laptops that the company is introducing this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Although overall PC demand has been hurt by the global economic slowdown, notebook sales have continued to show strength.
The dual-screen entry, ThinkPad W700ds, has a

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: The American movie business is quietly celebrating solid if not spectacular results at the box office in 2008, but that does not mean the industry is totally healthy.
Ticket sales at North American movie theaters totaled $9.6 billion, a drop of less than 1 percent from the previous year, according to Media by Numbers, a box office tracking company. Although attendance declined 5 percent, to about 1.3 billion, the industry was able to buttress revenue

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: Acting not unlike many New Year's Eve partygoers who pushed the revelry a little too far, CNN woke up Jan. 1 with a tinge of regret.
Not that it was not worth it. CNN got the buzz it was seeking.
Resembling the programming on MTV more than that of a cable news network, CNN's two-hour live countdown included eyebrow-raising performances by the band Lynyrd Skynyrd, and by the rapper Lil Wayne, whose backup dancer put on a risque pole-dancing show. …

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: The Chinese government broadened its recent effort to limit pornography on the Internet by criticizing 19 Internet companies by name Monday, including Google and Baidu, the providers of the two most popular search engines in the country.
A statement posted by early Monday afternoon on a government-run news site said the Ministry of Public Security and six other government agencies would work together “to purify the Internet's cultural environment …

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The second-ranking editor at The Washington Post announced on Monday that he would step down, leaving the paper and its newly arrived top editor to fill vacancies in two of the highest newsroom positions, during a period of acute change at the paper.
Philip Bennett, the managing editor for the last four years, said that he would leave at the end of the week. Recently, Jim Brady said he would soon step down as executive editor of WashingtonPost.com, the

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: Venture capitalists make their fortunes, or lose them, on the strength of their predictions. As they hunt for barely hatched ideas and nurture them with money and advice, they are hoping that one grows into the next Google.
On Sand Hill Road, the wide boulevard here where investors study ideas in offices tucked behind palm trees and redwoods, the recession has tempered optimism with caution.
Conversations with some of the leading venture capitalists …

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: In its latest concession to the worst revenue slide since the Depression, The New York Times has begun selling display advertising on its front page, a step that has become increasingly common in the  industry.
The first such ad, which appeared Monday in color, was bought by CBS. The ad, 2½ inches, or 6.4 centimeters, high, lies horizontally across the bottom of the front page, below the news articles and a summary of some articles in the paper.

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Following is the letter that the chief executive of Apple, Steven Jobs, released Monday regarding his health:
Dear Apple Community,
For the first time in a decade, I'm getting to spend the holiday season with my family, rather than intensely preparing for a Macworld keynote.
Unfortunately, my decision to have Phil deliver the Macworld keynote set off another flurry of rumors about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed. …

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: Trying to put to rest persistent speculation about his health, the chief executive of Apple, Steve Jobs, disclosed in a public letter Monday that he was recovering from a hormone imbalance that had contributed to his continuing weight loss.
Jobs noted that his decision not to give his annual Macworld keynote address “set off another flurry of rumors about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed.”
But Jobs, who recovered …

New Year’s is a great occasion for taking pause to reassess priorities, needs, and wants. As we enter what looks to be a trying
2009, such a pause is even more critical. IT resources will be limited and business pressures higher. But that doesn’t mean
you withdraw or go into reactive mode. In tough times, being clear on your priorities is even more important, as everything
you do is more critical. So InfoWorld asked its CTO Council member and its cadre of expert contributors for their top New
Year’s …

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: Two top Dell executives brought in by Michael Dell as part of his effort to restart the computer maker's growth are leaving.
Michael Cannon, president of Dell's global operations, will step down Jan. 31. He joined the company two years ago, one of the first major hires made by Michael Dell after his return as chief executive to the company he founded.
Mark Jarvis, who was hired from Oracle by Michael Dell as the company's first chief …

So many notable quotes, so little space to recount them — that’s the annual conundrum as we think back on the year and recall
comments that stuck with us long after they were uttered. We’ve assembled some of those notable comments from stories we wrote
and stories we read and offer them here in not-quite chronological order because we wanted to let Oracle CEO Larry Ellison
have the last word.
[ Keep up on the latest tech news headlines at , or subscribe to the . ]
So much for holiday spirit”It seems …

Apple’s stock fell abruptly on Tuesday, but later recovered some ground, after an online report said CEO Steve Jobs bowed
out of next week’s Macworld Expo keynote address because of declining health.
In a it labeled “rumor,” the gadget blog Gizmodo quoted an unnamed source as saying Apple “is choosing to remove the hype factor
strategically” by holding the keynote without Jobs, whose “health is rapidly declining.” Gizmodo said the source had been
correct in the past, though only about Apple products …

These days, being skilled is critical to keeping your tech or IT job, not just to advance. It’s hard to know, of course, what
you really know. That’s where we can help.
Perhaps job status is not your concern: You simply like to challenge yourself. We can help there as well.
How? Through our series of quizzes from IT and tech experts.
Each of our quizzes follows the same structure: Just answer our 20 questions and see how well you rate. Correct responses
are worth 5 points.
Ready? Then put your tech …

Google is pushing users of its e-mail service to dump Microsoft’s Internet Explorer for its own or ’s .
When users of IE6 reach Gmail.com, a “Get faster Gmail” message appears in the Web-based service’s menu bar. The message,
in turn, links to a page on Google’s Web site that as being “twice as fast” at running Gmail.
[ For more on the Browser battles check out  | Also, see the special report on  and related story "." ]
Last week, the Gmail site also displayed the message …

The security industry is fueled largely by FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt.) So it’s not unusual for most forecasts in the
industry to be full of grim prognostications of imminent chaos and calamities.
By that measure, the predictions contained in several recent security forecasts for 2009 will probably be somewhat of a relief
for security managers.
[ Learn how to secure your systems with Roger Grimes' and , both from InfoWorld. ]
Most of the security vendors’ forecasts predict dramatic spikes in …

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: Who's watching the “Watchmen”? Come March 6, it may not be moviegoers.
A U.S. judge, having ruled last week that 20th Century Fox has distribution rights to “Watchmen,” an eagerly anticipated superhero movie shot by Warner Brothers, said he was inclined to decide after a hearing scheduled for Jan. 20 whether the release of the film should be blocked.
At a morning conference, lawyers for both studios heard the judge, Gary Feess, elaborate on …

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WHILE U.S. newspapers, magazines, radio and local television are all losing advertisers in the recessionary economy, the broadcast networks continue to be an anomaly, with advertisers putting their marketing dollars into national television at levels reminiscent of prosperous economic times.
“The shoe hasn't dropped yet,” said Kris Magel, senior vice president and director for national broadcast at Initiative, a media buying agency. The troubled economy …