VentureBeat

Here’s the latest action:

Adobe launches Photoshop Express, the next piece of its web empire — The online version of Photoshop will allow users store two gigabytes of photos online, edit those photos and upload and download them from Facebook. It joins a field that includes other web editing sites like Picnik.  Photoshop Express also extends Adobe’s online presence, which also includes Buzzword and Adobe Share: “Without too much effort, Adobe could tie them together and introduce an new and unique online suite,” notes ReadWriteWeb.

Jana Partners responds to CNET layoffs — The online news organization CNET will lose around 120 employees, but Barry Rosenstein, managing partner of hedge fund firm Jana Partners (which is attempting a hostile board takeover), says it’s “astounding” that the layoffs didn’t happen sooner. Rosenstein — who is, of course, completely objective — interprets the move as another sign that CNET needs new leadership.

YouTube offers video analytics for the masses — The new YouTube Insight allows anyone with a YouTube account to view statistics about videos they’ve uploaded, including where and when people are watching. It’s also yet another way to waste time online, and hey, we always need more of those.

Pay By Touch may be sold to investors — A group of hedge funds and private equity firms shut down Solidus Networks’ Pay By Touch biometrics business last week, and are now saying they’ll buy the business for $4.4 million in cash, according to VentureWire. Investors pumped $170 million into the biometrics company before its collapse. Among other things, the company has suffered under controversial chief executive John Rogers.

EU plans to put nearly 1 billion euros into hydrogen for transportation — The money will come from both the EU and the private sector. Those plans are at odds with the development of electric cars, of course — they’ll need to go with one or the other. If you build infrastructure for hydrogen and only half the population uses it, well, that would be a pretty big waste of money.

Chip maker Rambus found not guilty — Memory makers Hynix, Micron Technology and Nanya Technology had sued Rambus, alleging the company violated antitrust and fraud laws with its patents, which could be valued in the hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars. However Rambus was found not guilty. Hynix, Micron and Nanya all vowed to appeal, while Rambus is also appealing a separate decision by the Federal Trade Commission that did find it guilty of fraud. The San Jose Mercury news has more.

Shell and Virent Energy Systems team up for biofuels research — Their goal is to convert plant sugars directly into gasoline or components that can be blended with gasoline.

Young people + the internet = political action? — The New York Times looks at a growing trend of “the young” getting their political news online, citing Barack Obama’s YouTube response to George Bush’s state of the union as a prominent example.

CBS Labs testing hi-def video streaming — Samples here. The videos use H.264 format.

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