For all those in the Obama administration-to-be, Congress, and policymakers around the country looking for ways to "stimulate" the American economy, I suggest reading Steve Hamm's great BusinessWeek article, entitled "Whatever Happened to Silicon Valley Innovation?"  Hamm clearly outlines a phenomenon that America needs to address if it's going to fix its economy not only for tomorrow, but for the decades to come: the disappearance of Silicon Valley startups that matter.  The kind of startups that will evolve into the [...]

Over the past few weeks, venture capital firms from New York City to Silicon Valley have called in their portfolio companies to tell them that they better prepare themselves for a protracted economic downturn.  As we pointed out on our blog, the VCs’ cataclysmic announcements sure made it sound like the start-up community should downsize its expectations for 2009.  But are VCs really as gravely concerned as it seems, or is there a little more to their gloom-and-doom presentations than [...]

Yahoo!News reveals that “China said it has the right to block Web sites its says break its laws after being accused of restarting the practice it halted during the August Olympic Games as part of a promise to widen media freedom.  Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said Tuesday that certain Web sites had breached Chinese law by recognizing ‘two Chinas’ — a reference to the self-ruled island Taiwan.  Liu, however, wouldn't say whether any Web sites had been censored.”The Seattle [...]

CNetNews.com reveals that “[f]ormer Vodafone chief Arun Sarin reportedly is withdrawing his name from the Yahoo CEO search, in part due to the uncertainty whether the Internet search pioneer will be broken up and sold, according to a report in the Financial Times.  Sarin, who was considered a strong candidate who had made it through to a narrowed list of prospective candidates, reportedly had several issues in considering the Yahoo post.”In more Yahoo! news, Internetnews.com writes that “[a]lmost a full [...]

NetworkWorld has a fun compilation of the “wackiest technology stories of 2008.” And, of course, what is almost as fun as looking back at what happened in 2008 is speculating about what might be next year – as PC Mag does with its list of “8 Tech Predictions for 2009.” Yahoo!Tech reports that “Google Inc. denied that it had reversed its stance on the issue of ‘Net neutrality’ and dismissed a story in Monday's edition of The Wall Street Journal [...]