Microsoft’s response to the iPod has been the center of many, many jokes.  Earlier today, the Microsoft Zune 30 GB had a major outage.  People are calling the Zune blanking out today as “Zune2K9″ according to Gizmodo.  A report at Gizmodo states that:

Apparently, around 2:00 AM today, the Zune models either reset, or were already off. Upon when turning on, the thing loads up and… freezes with a full loading bar (as pictured above). I thought my brother was the only one with it, but then it happened to my Zune. Then I checked out the forums and it seems everyone with a 30GB HDD model has had this happen to them

All of the complaints on major Zune forums are consistent regarding the issue.  You can read about them on ZuneScene and Zune.net.  Gizmodo has also released a do-it-yourself fix to the problem.

Microsoft’s official response to the situation is:

We are aware that customers with the Zune 30GB are experiencing issues with their Zune device. We are actively working now to isolate the issue and develop a solution to address it. We will keep customers informed on next steps via the support page on zune.net (zune.net/support).

Stayed tuned to see what happens going forward.

Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, is acquiring Consumerist.com from Gawker. Consumers Union plans to keep the blog as-is. Consumerist’s editorial team will stay on board as well. Nick Denton mentioned the troubled advertising market as a reason for the sale. He put Consumerist on the block in November.

Consumers Union will use the blog as a marketing tool. They hope to acquire younger subscribers through the blog.

Consumerist gets 1.8 million unique visits  a month. But attracting advertisers is hard for the site because it bashes brands and companies. Consumers Union does not accept advertising on its magazines so they will not be accepting advertising on Consumerist after the sale.

Last night, TechCrunch reported that content sites will see a 50% drop in revenue next quarter. Its sources included “content site owners” and an unnamed sales exec. No real stats were shows to back up the claim. Today, Gizmodo reported that Macworld was canceled because of Jobs’ declining health. It also got It’s information from an unnamed “reliable source.”

The problem with this kind of “reporting” is that it gets picked up and cited by main stream media at Internet speed. TechCrunch’s posts are syndicated by The Washington Post. Gawker, the owner of Gizmodo has a number of newspapers following its stories. When these large blogs report unsubstantiated rumors just to get page views, bad things happen.

Apple’s stock was shaken by Gizmodo’s rumor. And I am sure thousands of small content site owners have started to worry thanks to Arrington’s prediction.

A blogger’s “insider source” is as useless as a political analyst is to main stream media. Most political analysts have no idea what the hell they are talking about. They just speak gibberish and make claims based on absolutely nothing.

The same goes for a blog’s “inside sources.” They are supposedly authoritative people with solid information. But there is never anything to back up the information.

As far as I am concerned, Gizmodo’s Apple insider source is some clueless kid who works at an Apple Store.

Micro-Star International (MSI) has unveiled the first ever hybrid storage Netbook, the U115.  The U115 is able to operate SSD (solid-state drive) and HDD (hard disk drive) drives at the same time.  The battery is able to last a long time when it is set to the “ECO on” mode.  This allows U115 owners to be more productive and mobile.  The U115 operates primarily on SSD, giving it a more shock-absorbent and reliable environment to work with.  The SSD system can be used when running Windows and HDD can be used for file storage.

The U115 has a built-in Intel® Atom Processor Z530 ?1.60GHz?.  The screen size is 10″ wide LCD.  The frame is about 26 cm x 17 cm.  It is about 19-32 mm in thickness.  The total weight is 1 kg.  The wireless runs on 802.11 b/g/nand has Bluetooth transmission.  For memory cards, the U115 has a 4 in 1 Card Reader (XD/SD/MMC/Memory Stick).   Webcam is built in and there are two speakers.  The U115 comes with Windows XP Home.

Currently there isn’t any information on where to buy this device yet, but if you happen to know, please leave a comment for the benefit of anyone interested.

GM and Chrysler received $13.4 billion in emergency loans to help keep them afloat.  The loans were given even though there was tremendous controversy around it.  Governor Jennifer Granholm of Michigan decided that she did not want to take a chance for the automotive companies to revive themselves with just federal loans so she decided to offer major tax incentives to battery firms.  If these companies are lured into Michigan, it makes it easier for automotive companies to use their battery technology directly.

This is especially important since hybrid and plug-in vehicles are becoming a heavy focus for the big three automotive companies.  General Motors is investing a large amount of money into the development of the Chevy Volt.  Ford has several hybrid vehicles being manufactured such as the Fusion and the Escape.  And Chrysler has two SUV hybrids: the Durango and the Aspen.

Lithium ion batteries are extremely important for any hybrid vehicle.  “It is imperative that Michigan possess this technology to keep Michigan the center of car manufacturing,” stated Senator John Pappageorge, member of the Michigan State Senate.  The U.S. as a whole is lacking battery technology companies according to Granholm.  It is not just the state.  The batteries will store energy in cars, homes, and businesses too.

“All of that we want to make a big play for Michigan,” stated Granholm. “We want it to be an American solution produced by American workers.”

The state of Michigan is offering the battery companies refundable tax credits.  These are more than just tax breaks.  Refundable tax credits is when the state writes the companies a check if the credits exceed tax liabilities.  The Senate passed the bill 31-3 and the House 94-0.  Before the bill passed, the cost of the bill was scaled back by nearly $200 million.

LG Electronics will be unveiling the world’s thinnest LED LCD  TV at the CES 2009 conference in Las Vegas.   The TV will be 24.8 mm in thickness and will support 240Hz TrueMotion Drive technology.  The contrast ratio is 2,000,000:1.  This TV won the 2009 CES Innovation Award in the Display category.  LG is on a roll.  Earlier it was announced that they will be launching the LG-GD910, the first 3G HSDPA phone with video capabilities built into a watch.

AT&T (NYSE:T) spent about $3.85 million to buy the domain name YP.com from LiveDeal.  This was done so that YP.com would now redirect to Yellowpages.com.  This was revealed in a Form 10-K filed by LiveDeal Inc.  LiveDeal is an Internet marketing campaign company.  LiveDeal is run by John Raven as President and Michael Edelhart as CEO.  LiveDeal made about $25 million in net revenues in the past year.

BellSouth and SBC bought out YellowPages.com for about $120 million a couple of years ago.  Three years ago, SBC bought out AT&T and then AT&T bought out Bellsouth for $67 billion.  YellowPages became a fully owned AT&T subsidiary after that.

LiveDeal is formerly known as YP Corp. which is why they owned that domain name.  While this is a lot for buying out a domain name, it is only $1 million higher than what Pizza.com was bought for.

[via TechCrunch]

The Parent Company (NASDAQ:KIDS) filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday.  The Parent Company runs several Internet retailing companies such as eToys.com, MyTwinn.com, BabyUniverse.com, Dreamtime Baby, ePregnancy, Babytv.com, Poshtots, PoshCravings, and PoshLiving.  The Parent Company filed the Chapter 11 along with their majority owner D.E. Shaw & Company.

This move was ““an unfortunate but necessary and responsible step to preserve the company’s value for our stakeholders in light of the ongoing challenging retail environment,” according to Michael J. Wagner, CEO of The Parent Company. Retailers as a whole had one of their worst holiday shopping seasons with the exception of Amazon.com.  To try and win Internet retailers to eToys, the company offered 60% of on over 1,300 toys and games.  Clearly this wasn’t enough to woo customers to buy a significant amount of goods from them.

About eight years ago, eToys filed for bankruptcy and KB Toys bought them out for about $5 million.  Three years after that, KB Toys had to file for bankruptcy.  KB Toys had to file again this year.  Now they are having going out of business sales.  It’s been a rough year for retail everywhere.

[via NYT]