On January 5th Yahoo! surprised Silicon Alley and Wall Street by PayPal president Scott Thompson as its new CEO. Today, the website's co-founder (and "Chief Yahoo!") Jerry Yang resigned from the company. Yang, who co-founded the search portal in 1995 with David Filo, immediately no longer serves on its Board of Directors or holds any other positions with the company, and also resigned from the Boards of Yahoo Japan Corporation and China's Alibaba Group Holding Limited.

In a letter to the Yahoo! Board Chairman Roy Bostock, Yang — who taped the video above for his alma mater, Stanford University, two months ago — wrote, 

“My time at Yahoo!, from its founding to the present, has encompassed some of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life. However, the time has come for me to pursue other interests outside of Yahoo! As I leave the company I co-founded nearly 17 years ago, I am enthusiastic about the appointment of Scott Thompson as Chief Executive Officer and his ability, along with the entire Yahoo! leadership team, to guide Yahoo! into an exciting and successful future.”Continue reading...

A look at the good, the bad, and the ugly regarding product placements in the Oscar-nominated films of 2009. So, how did the following brandcameos fare? 

American Airlines in Up In The Air.         Belstaff in Inglorious Basterds.

BET in Precious.                                    BlackBerry in Up In The Air.

BMW in The Blind Side.                         Bristol in An Education.

Chanel in An Education.                        Chrysler Sebring in Up In The Air.

Fenton's in UP.                                     * Günther's in District 9.

Hilton in Up In The Air.                          Jujubees in Avatar.

* RDA in Avatar.                                   Red Owl in A Serious Man.

Sony in District 9.                                Stanford University in Avatar.

Taco Bell in The Blind Side.                   Under Armour in The Blind Side.

Walther in Inglorious Basterds.              "*" Fictional brand.Continue reading...