Here’s the latest action:
Microsoft aiming Windows 7 for 2009 year end — Windows 7, the successor to Vista, should be out in time for Christmas next year.
Craigslist to curb “erotic services” — At some undefined point, Craigslist became the go-to place for hookers. But the online classifieds company has finally agreed, at the behest of 40 state attorneys general, to put a lid on it.
Pandora still has a struggle ahead — Despite a deal with the Digital Media Association to barter out rates for the songs online radio stations play, top startup Pandora will still have a tough time finding enough advertising to pay the bills, according to All Things D.
Sprint Nextel continues to deflate — The third-largest mobile provider posted a loss of 11 cents per share, helped along by the departure of 1.3 million customers.
Silicon Valley, look to Washington — “We’re moving into a much more regulated world where winners and losers are not chosen by who is best in the market,” according to a lawyer and former special assistant to the president. More at the San Jose Mercury News.
Search is all tail, no head — A study of search by an SEO expert found that the vast majority of searches, almost 90 percent, aren’t even in the top 1,000 searches used.
Amazon names Startup Challenge finalists — Six companies are finalists in the $100,000 competition: Encoding.com, Knewton, MedCommons, Sonian, Pixily, Yieldex and Zephyr.
MTV partners with Clearspring — Widget maker Clearspring will get a boost from its deal, which will allow it to distribute MTV content around the web.
Amazon building huge Oregon data center — Google was the first web pioneer to choose Oregon’s Columbia River for an outsized data center, but Amazon is now close on its heels.
Brash Entertainment lays off 20 — Movie-focused game developer Brash Entertainment is letting go of 20 people due to the recession.
Chinese hackers run rampant on White House network — An unnamed senior US official told the Financial Times that Chinese hackers have gained access to White House computers multiple times.
