Tuesday grab bag

GoogleBlog ushers in the launch of Google Video: “The era of the couch potato is so over. We’re rooting for the desk (and laptop) potato”. Speaking of Google Video check out the “everybody hates Chris” premier. The quality is good (not great), but it is very easy to use, and since it is Flash, no new plugin to install or some external app to load. Nice. Another great example is Google’s Recruiting Video – no really!

Rafe Colburn and Ted Leung (who deleted my comment while cleaning out spam – I can relate – did that myself quite a few times), second a thought I’ve had on improving Memeorandum – feeding it a group of RSS feeds that you care about. They are thinking in terms of a personal aggregator – I would like to make that personalized page public as as service.

Microsoft is taking radical steps to beat itself back to life. It’s facing facts – Windows was broken – and Longhorn wasn’t going to fix it – and taking bold corrective measures that should pay off down the line. The folks at the Register aren’t very optimistic.

Jason Calacanis gives his thoughts on recent moves by Microsoft and Google, Fox, Yahoo, and AOL.

Speaking of Microsoft, Steven Sinofsky gives us a behind the scenes look at MS’s dev team management structure.

And look at this – Internet ad revenue climbs 26 percent.

Did you know it’s Banned Books Week. Check out the discussion at Metafilter and buy one.

Oh, and a Saudi Prince Buys a 5% Stake in Fox how ironic is that?

Ummmm… Michael Brown, former head of FEMA, is still getting a paycheck there – as a consultant.

Bush wants to expand the role of the military on domestic soil, giving authority over to the Pentagon in disaster response (Washington Post), overturning the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 that baned the armed forces from participating in police-type activity on U.S. soil. John Scalzi calls it the mother of all bad ideas.

Speaking of bad ideas… read “Bush administration threatens veto against Geneva Convention” at Metafilter.

Rest in Peace: Don Adams, TV’s Maxwell Smart, Dies at 82.

I’ve been ‘bit-blogging’ a a little too much these past few days…must step away from the keyboard…