Bob Dylan wrote a song called “The Times They Are A Changin’.”  The model for print is taking a beating from the information age.  The first mechanical system made for printing communication was assembled by Johannes Gutenberg around 1440.  The newspaper industry really started picking up in the 1930′s and early 1940′s, but The Ann Arbor News was started in 1835 under various names.

No one would have seen it coming that 174 years later the newspaper of the hometown of Pulse2 LLC, the University of Michigan, Google’s AdWords program (opened 2 years ago), Borders Books, Domino’s Pizza, and Zingerman’s Delicatessen would be shutting down.

The announcement of the shut-down was made by Laurel Champion.  Champion reported that the “business model is not sustainable.”  Advertising revenue dropped 20% more than the same month the year before.  “This isn’t about abandoning local journalism, it’s about serving it up in a very different way.”

AnnArbor.com LLC will be launched later this year and will be serving as a replacement to learn more about local news.  AnnArbor.com will print the news twice per week.  Employees at The Ann Arbor News were welcome to apply to AnnArbor.com and will receive one week severance packages plus extended medical benefits.

Champion herself will be an Executive VP of AnnArbor.com.

The last issue will be printed in July 2009.

[via MLive]

A couple of executives at Concur Technologies has accidentally slipped in reporting their educational background.  Concur confirmed in company filings from 1998 to January 2007 that CEO S. Steve Singh did not actually graduate from the University of Michigan.  Singh did attend the school for some time though.

Although the CEO’s education was misrepresented, the company issued a statement stating that they have full confidence in Singh.

Steve Singh wasn’t the only board member that had incorrect education representation in the company’s documents.  His brother Rajeev Singh reportedly had a degree from Kettering University in Flint, Michigan in the S-1 for the company’s IPO.  However the company’s website indicated that Rajeev had a degree from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo.

Concur Technologies is corporate travel and expense management company.  The company builds software for both of these services.

[via Barron's]

The LG X120 was first showcased during the past CES.  Although there is no word when the netbook will be available in retail, but the company did confirm that it will be available in Japan by the end of the month.  Within another month, the netbook will be introduced in Europe and 20 other countries.  We’re hoping that the U.S. will be one of those fortunate countries.

[via Engadget]

Wikileaks is a website that publishes sensitive government information and religious documents.  Wikileaks tries to keep the contributors anonymous.  The last time I wrote about Wikileaks was when Bill O’Reilly’s website was hacked.  Within one year of Wikileak’s launch in 2006, the database has grown to over 1.2 million documents.

According to the organization’s About page, Wikileaks’ “primary interest is in exposing oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we also expect to be of assistance to people of all regions who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their governments and corporations.”

Some of the documents that have leaked on Wikileaks includes Guantánamo Bay procedures, the hacking of Sarah Palin’s Yahoo! account, and 600 internal United Nations reports.

According to the Wikileaks Twitter account, the police has raided the home of the Wikileaks.de domain owner over censorship lists.  Check back on the post for an update on what the consequences of the raid will be.

Japanese company Sanwa Supply creates electronic devices that enhances the experiences for digital music players, mobile phones, and game consoles.  One of the company’s latest inventions is the Sanwa throat microphone.  This microphone was modeled after the microphones used by the military.

No details on pricing and availability yet.  Check this post for later updates.

[via Akihabara]

Bang and Olufsen is a manufacturing company that puts together audio systems, TVs, speakers, phones, etc.   B&O’s latest TV is groundbreaking.  The BeoVision 4-103 stands proudly at 103″.  The TV uses a Panasonic TH-103PF9 panel.  It weighs about 500 kilos and has a motorized stand.

The TV’s resolution is about 1920×1080 pixels.  The sound system that comes with the TV is a B&O BeoSystem 3.  The TV uses VisionClear technology.  This technology automatically adjusts the colors and brightness of the picture.

The TV can be ordered right now and will become officially available in July 2009.   The cost of the TV is about $134,850.

[via FlatPanelsHD.com]

Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications announced earlier this week that Najmi Jarwala is stepping down.  Jarwala was the President of Sony Ericsson USA and the Head of Region North America.   He has stepped down to “pursue other opportunities.”  Jarwala worked at Sony for three years.

“It has been an incredibly rewarding time for me and we have achieved a lot together in North America,” stated Jarwala. “We have introduced an increasing number of new products, grown market share, built operator relationships and, perhaps most importantly, have laid the foundation for North America to play a key role in the long term growth and success of Sony Ericsson. I have been privileged to have led a team of passionate, creative and innovative people at Sony Ericsson and I wish them every success.”

Jarwala will be replaced by Anders Runevad starting April 1.  Runevad is the Executive Vice President of Sony Ericsson and the Head of Global Sales & Marketing.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer once again reflected upon what he thinks of the cost of Apple hardware.  Back in January 2007, Steve Ballmer laughed off the iPhone and then started talking about the Microsoft strategy.

“Right now we’re selling millions and millions and millions of phone a year, Apple is selling zero phones a year.  In six months they’ll have the most expensive phone by far ever in the marketplace and… let’s see.. you know… what’s the expression?  Let’s see how the competition goes,” stated Ballmer in 2007.  Today Apple has sold over 30 million iPhones and iPod Touch units.

At the McGraw-Hill Media Summit New York conference this past Thursday, Ballmer was interviewed over a webcast by BusinessWeek’s Stephen Adler.  Ballmer offered a reason why Mac sales dropped about 16% in February.  The stats were put together by NPD Group.

“The economy is helpful. Paying an extra $500 for a computer in this environment — same piece of hardware — paying $500 more to get a logo on it? I think that’s a more challenging proposition for the average person than it used to be,” stated Ballmer.

I agree with Ballmer to a certain extent.  Low cost netbooks seem to be selling by the millions right now and people are not as willing to buy Macs.  Right now Apple has enough money to charge as much as they want for Macs.  When iPhones and iPod Touch sales slow down, then maybe it would make sense to lower the cost of Macs.  As long as the prices stay high, the people that are willing to pay a premium will do so.  When they want to lower their standards to a lower income demographic, they will do so.