Yahoo to cut 3,500 jobs -- party on!

By Owen Thomas

A tipster tells us that Yahoo plans to cut 3,500 jobs, chiefly in sales and finance, on December 10 — while keeping plans for a multimillion-dollar holiday party days before the cuts:

I work in the finance org at Yahoo and have learned that the layoff date is Dec. 10. Finance will be cutting 50% of the workforce, engineering 10%, and sales and the rest of G&A [general & administrative] 25%. The company sent an invitation today for the annual holiday party on December 6 (four days before the biggest downsizing in the company's history ~3,500 jobs). The holiday party is held at the San Mateo Convention center with a Las Vegas gambling theme. [It will] cost millions of dollars. Where is the fiscal responsibility?

Our source also confirms that the company is slashing severance packages, a move CFO Blake Jorgensen has argued for:

I guess Jerry Yang feels that maybe he would have better luck betting the whole company on a Las Vegas table than he has at running it. As you reported, our CFO is cutting the severance packages (I guess so he can fund the multimillion dollar holiday party). Employees are outraged and are planning to boycott the party. Maybe they should have surveyed the employees to see if they wanted to attend one party or get better benefits in their layoff packages. My finance peers should get their resumes updated as 50% of us will be leaving.

The departures are already happening, from what we hear. Rojeh Avanesian, the head of finance for Yahoo's Santa Monica-based media group, the operation led by Scott Moore. Avanesian sent this peppy goodbye note to colleagues earlier this week:

To my friends and family at Yahoo,

I never thought I'd type these words, but after 7.5 years, tomorrow is my last day at Yahoo. I am extremely fortunate to have worked with such a great group of people. Keep fighting the good fight and take care of each other. I’ll cheer for you, I’ll miss you, and I hope to see you succeed. Good luck to all of you. I can always be reached at [redacted]@yahoo.com.

A wise man once said: “Yahoo! is not just a company… it’s an idea. Yahoo! is what is possible, what is right, and what is worth doing. It’s what others aspire to.“

Original here

The Scarab, a robotic rover that will explore the dark craters of the Moon

Carnegie Mellon University loves robots and, more than that, a challenge: How do you get at possible minerals around the Moon's crater-studded south pole where there's no light for energy, or to see what you're doing? The CMU team's solution is the Scarab, a fully autonomous prospector 'bot, that'll carry out its work using laser scanners to navigate the harsh terrain and a radioactive power source to keep itself going.

It needs to be able to core through a meter of possibly hard, icy soil to get at the pockets of hydrogen concentrations for study — and its wheels are the key. The dynamic platform allows the Scarab to move over slopes and jagged landforms, and acts as a stabilizer when the 'bot goes belly-down to drill. The Scarab will move along slowly, as its radioactive isotope power source only produces about 100 watts — or the power of your average light bulb — to keep the robotic rover moving and thinking. The good news? That source also lasts about 10 years, so it'll have plenty of time to do what it needs to do.

The Scarab is about to undergo field testing at a volcanic range in Hawaii to see if it's up to the task of exploring dark lunar craters. If it does well, it may win a golden ticket from NASA to head to the moon and start its studies. Click Continue for a snippet from the Discovery Channel detailing CMU's Scarab autonomous prospector.

Scarab, via EurekAlert!, via BotJunkie

Original here

IBM Laptop Concept For Spies

This IBM laptop concept that you see here is truly out of this world, and Nicolas Lehotzky sure has a wild imagination. You will find a security knob as well as hidden USB ports (how irritating) to help you in your espionage activities. The built-in paper shredder should come in handy to do away with any incriminating evidence just in case you're a little short on intestinal fortitude to bite on that cyanide pill once caught by the authorities. Ordinary folk who buy this can also use the paper shredder to eliminate receipts that show gifts purchased for a mistress.

Original here