Wired News: eBusiness

YouTube has quietly started testing out real HD quality videos on a smattering of its content, a development that is getting attention from viewers in message boards and blog forums. The new format could be a big move for YouTube, as the video quality is over 80MB, which means that they are probably the same H.264 encoded mp4 files available in the iTunes store.

Hans Reiser, the 44-year-old Linux guru who was convicted in April of killing his wife, is seeking a new trial. But Reiser, who killed wife Nina Reiser, waived his right to appeal in exchange for his sentence to be reduced from 25-to-life to 15-to-life. The deal included leading authorities to the hills in Oakland, Calif., where he buried his 31-year-old wife who was divorcing him.

To help journalists who are losing their jobs, Six Apart offers them a pro account on TypePad. It's a $150 start.

Jerry Yang has always been viewed as one of the great visionaries in Silicon Valley. Thirteen years ago he started a company with a funny name that changed the world, became a billionaire, and always seemed smart enough to leave the actual running of the place to someone else -- until one day a little more than a year ago he utterly lost his way.

As soon as Yahoo appoints a new CEO, Jerry Yang will leave his post at the company, according to a prepared statement released by the company.

The SEC charges Mark Cuban with insider trading, according to several published reports. The Wall Street Journal says Cuban learned of a private offering of Momma.com that would decrease the value of his shares. CNBC says he saved $750,000 by the timing of his sale, in 2004.

Sun Microsystems plans to cut up to 6,000 jobs, or 18 percent of its global work force, as sales of its high-end computer servers have collapsed.

Fourteen years ago, a company called General Magic promised a handheld device that would make calls, send email, play music, and do almost everything else that makes today's iPhone so drool-worthy. "Bill and Andy's Excellent Adventure II" (April 1994) was about the two Macintosh vets—Atkinson and Hertzfeld—leading the project.

Unfortunately, they were far too early.

General Magic sank in 2002. But its legacy lives on, in part because the effort was a formative experience for a team of brilliant young engineers. Pierre Omidyar went on to start eBay. Tony Fadell heads Apple's iPod hardware group. Kevin Lynch cooked up Flash. And Andy Rubin created the Sidekick and Google's Android mobile platform. Not too shabby. As for Bill and Andy, they are still adventuring excellently: Atkinson works with the artificial intelligence startup Numenta, and Hertzfeld codes for Google.

Oh, 15th-anniversary page, how we'll miss you. For 12 issues, we've used this space for overtly self-referential sesquidecimalizing. As the year comes to an end, we thought we'd take a look back at the way we looked back. Herewith, our favorite items.

1 On the first anniversary page, we ran a collection of all our covers that featured guys with beards—14 furry-faced geniuses. Weirdly, 18 of them were George Lucas.

2 In September, we compared the number of issues that mention Bill Gates (150) to the number of issues that mention Steve Jobs (110). Apple's lawyers have demanded we pick up the pace.

3 July's edition listed things we pronounced dead prematurely (like, oh, Web browsers). Is this anniversary shtick really over?

4 In March, we charted the number of covers that used neon ink. We love graphs. In fact, on the left is a little graph of how much we love graphs.

5 Two issues ago we created an "evil meter" to help Google navigate today's murky moral waters. They sued us.* Jerks.

*Not really.

These Are Definitely Not Scully's Breasts (November 2003)

Me So Nerdy (September 2006)

Cool Whip: A Delicious Blend of Sugar, Wax, and Condom Lube (May 2007)

Nobody Fucks With the DMV (February 1994)

Data Dicks (October 1995)

The Dumbass, the Daytrader, and the New Democracy (April 2000)

The Wired Scared Shitlist (January 1995)

Reminder to Steve Case: Confiscate the Long Knives (September 2000)