The New York Times writes that “A new report released Tuesday from Gartner, the market research firm, predicts year-over-year PC sales to grow 10.9 percent worldwide. That’s down from a December forecast of 11.6 percent, and the reduction is due to the worsening world economy. While a further downturn could slow growth to single digits, the industry is showing strength across all segments from laptops to desktop replacements, the company said.”

According to Yahoo!News, reports that “YouTube has removed several video clips that had prompted Turkish authorities to block access to the video-sharing Web site, a move the company believes will lead to a restoration of access soon.  In a statement in Turkish sent to The Associated Press on Thursday, YouTube said the company ‘reviewed the videos that led to the most recent ban on access and removed them because of their content, which violate YouTube’s content policy.’”

The Washington Post reports that Maryland “Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) has floated a compromise that would allow for the repeal of the state’s new tax on computer services by imposing a surcharge on the income of millionaires, diverting some funding for transportation projects and requiring additional budget cuts in state agencies.  The proposals, which were shared at a closed meeting with legislative leaders Tuesday and described by several participants yesterday, are an attempt to resolve one of the most difficult issues pending before the General Assembly’s April 7 adjournment.”

The Register reveals that “

[t]he operators of TorrentSpy, once the most popular BitTorrent tracker, have been forced to permanently shutter the site after losing a battle with rights holders.  A Los Angeles court ruled in favour of the Motion Picture Ass. of America in December after TorrentSpy destroyed evidence, claiming it was protecting users’ privacy. The judge said it had made a fair trial impossible and imposed a $30,000 fine.”

CNetNews.com points out that “Facebook has about 67 million members [and] [w]ith the new ‘People You May Know’ feature, the number of connections per member will skyrocket, extending the reach and stickiness of Facebook’s social graph.  People You May Know finds people within six degrees or so of separation and suggests them as potential friends. It appears that the threshold is set at four, meaning you are connected to four of the same people as the suggested ‘friend.’  FriendFeed has taken a somewhat similar approach for recommending new people to ‘follow.’  This type of recommendation engine, which taps into the social graph, is like a Las Vegas slot machine that keeps on giving. Every time you pull the lever you get a bunch of new friend connections, which makes you want to keep pulling the lever until it runs out of recommendations.”