WebProNews

CNET Slashing 120 Jobs

Ten percent of the CNET workforce will be hammering their connections for job leads, as the media company trimmed its workforce amid board takeover threats from the Jana Partners hedge fund.

Problems With Facebook's New Privacy Measures

As promised yesterday, Facebook has announced new privacy measures. The new features include long-sought for privacy controls based on friend lists (which were introduced in December).

Consumating To Shut Down

If you want to find "people who don't suck," you'll soon have to use some site other than Consumating.  The social network/dating resource is scheduled to close on March 15th.

CNET Calls JANA's Proposal 'Improper'

CNet Networks responded to hedge fund JANA Partners' aggressive proposal to takeover the company upon acquiring a majority of shares in the company. CNet called JANA's proposal "improper" and indicated that a takeover would not add value for stockholders.JANA Partners issued an announcement this morning and filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission its intent to submit proposals to amend CNet's bylaws in order to increase the size of the board of directors from eight to thirteen. The move came after JANA acquired 21 percent, or a majority stake, in the company.

CNet Facing Shareholder Unrest

A New Year's downgrade of CNet Networks has an activist group of investors calling for big changes with the company.

Investor Revolt Against CNET

Updated: The NY Times reports this morning that, "consortium of prominent investment funds has amassed a 21 percent stake in CNet and is seeking to oust the company’s directors and take over a majority of its board".

Gaming Blogs Abuzz Over Reviewer's Firing

Jeff Gerstmann's negative review of massively promoted Eidos title Kane & Lynch: Dead Men may have contributed to his dismissal as gaming editorial director from CNet's Gamespot.

eBay Working to Solve Identity System Problem

Last night I met Dan Pritchett, technical fellow at eBay. He told me that eBay alone has 21 identity systems. So, if you wanted to use every part of eBay’s empire, like Skype, PayPal, StumbleUpon, etc, you’d need to sign in 21 different times. Needless to say he, and others at eBay, are working on solving that problem. Why did I meet up with Dan Pritchett? Because of a speech by Tim Berners Lee, the guy who invented the Web. No, Al Gore didn’t do that. Heh.

Bono Getting Jiggy with Facebook

Maybe it’s the future of music and maybe it’s not, but I think U2’s experiment with Facebook and the iLike widget is a pretty interesting move.

Why YouTube Needs to Offer Hi-Res Videos

CNET has word from YouTube co-founder Steve Chen that the online video company is testing streaming videos at higher resolutions.