CNET News Daily Podcast

Many sites pledge to pay you for mailed-in used consumer electronics. But how worthwhile are they? CNET's Elsa Wenzel has some answers.

Plus, good news for Cyber Monday. Not such good news for the PC industry. All this and more on Wednesday's CNET News Daily Podcast.
Listen now: Download today's podcast

Today's stories:

Cyber Monday spending up 15 percent

PC shipments to grow just 3.8 percent in 2009

Wikipedia gets $890,000 for the Luddites

Picasa chief departs Google for Fetch

BlackBerry sales to disappoint Wall Street

Gadget trade-in services that pay off

Photo world begins grappling with video SLRs

Confessions of a man who does the layoffs

Special report: Faces of the recession

As if we didn't know it already, the National Bureau of Economic Research has officially confirmed that the economy is in a recession. So heading into the new year, how will technology fare in what is an increasingly uncertain era? CNET News on Tuesday begins the first of a multipart series on how the recession is affecting the industry and its people. Jim Kerstetter kicks off the series with an overview.

Today's stories:

Gawker Media's rolling layoffs continue

Ford acclerates electric-vehicle plans

Yahoo stock rises on new acquisition report

Ning puts the handcuffs on porno networks

Vietnamese security firm: Your face is easy to fake

IBM to start-up: Industry vet responds to recession

Broadcasters throughout the country will turn off their old analog TV transmitters on February 17, and begin transmitting their TV signals only in digital format. But despite all the benefits, consumers still have questions about how this transition will affect them. CNET News' Maggie Reardon explains the ins and outs when the flip gets switched two months from now.

Today's stories:

Huffington Post closes $25 million round

What you need to know about the digital TV switch

Morocco issues biometric ID cards

Europe to get cybercrime alert system

A new economic team is heading to Washington and while it's still hard to gauge what the new administration will do vis a vis high tech, President-elect Barack Obama may have sent a message with the appointment of an Internet commerce expert.

Today's stories:

Lycos Europe to close portal, end Web hosting

Getting schooled in formation flying

Ares rocket development updates posted to iTunes

Obama taps Internet commerce expert

Green may be the new black as far as consumer electronics companies are concerned. But Greenpeace is not so impressed with their efforts to date. In a new report, the group charges that electronics manufacturers are failing to make sufficiently bold moves to cut energy usage. CNET News' Martin LaMonica has the story.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Today's stories:

Is the video game industry recession-proof?

Trial ending in MySpace suicide case

The dark side of Galileo

Greenpeace rates electronics makers' green claims

A French company called DxO Labs has launched a Web site for the detail-obsessed camera crowd. CNET News reporter Stephen Shankland explains why it's getting a lot of attention.

That and the day's headlines, in Monday's podcast.

Today's stories:

DxO sheds light on camera sensor performance

Inventor files patent suit over iPhone Web browsing

Apple cutting hours for part-time retail workers?

Online advertising forecast grows bleaker

Report: Army to sink $50 million into combat training games

NFL demos live 3D broadcasts

The drama surrounding the 19-year-old who overdosed on pills live on the Justin.TV Internet broadcasting service took more than 12 hours to unfold Wednesday night. How does something like this happen? CNET News' Greg Sandoval talks about the effect this could have on the live Web video community, and what could have prevented it.

Also on today's podcast: Apple issues a hefty iPhone update, Google calculates how long it will take to make the U.S. energy independent, and the economy forces some companies to scale back their CES plans.

Today's stories:

Report: Teen commits suicide on Justin.tv

Economy takes bite out of CES extravaganza

Apple releases iPhone 2.2 update

Yahoo sells Kelkoo

Google crunches numbers on clean-energy policy

Gadgets for which we are thankful, part 2

Apple continues to wrap the vast majority of major-label music in Fairplay, the company's proprietary digital rights management software, at a time when its major competitors have already signed DRM-free deals with all the big players. In an open letter, CNET News' Greg Sandoval suggests a different tack.

Today's stories:

Dear Steve Jobs: Set the music free

Microsoft: IE 8 won't be done until 2009

'World of Warcraft: Wrath of Lich King' sets sales record

'Green Car Journal' announces 2009 Green Car of the Year

T-Mobile USA teams up with Yahoo

Why Dell has its head in the clouds

Microsoft is causing a stir in the security world by dropping the fee for its antivirus software. That might be great news for security in general. But if people come to expect the service for free, where does that leave the companies that focus solely on security? Reporters Ina Fried and Elinor Mills join me in the podcast studio to talk about it.

Also in this podcast: Psystar's countersuit against Apple is all but dead; start-up has designs on ditching the lithium in consumer gadget batteries; there's a new Internet in outer space; and Microsoft says--again--that it's moved on from its proposed takeover of Yahoo. When will the rest of the world give up on the idea?

Today's stories:

Psystar antitrust claim against Apple dismissed

Ballmer: 'We are done' with Yahoo acquisition idea

Mac OS X Snow Leopard coming early?

RIAA win: Tennessee to police campus networks

Zinc fuel cell maker readies portable power

New Internet goes to space, comes back to Earth

Microsoft to offer free consumer security suite

Will Microsoft's antivirus move draw antitrust fire?

Microsoft to nix Office subscriptions

How Live OneCare changed the antivirus landscape

Topping Tuesday's news, of course, is the announcement that Jerry Yang will step down as CEO of Yahoo. CNET News reporters Stephen Shankland and Elinor Mills talk about what the executive shift will mean for the company--and for a possible resurrection of Microsoft's acquisition offer.

That, and other headlines of the day, on Tuesday's podcast.

Today's stories:

Microhoo revisited: Would it be a search-only deal?

Yahoo CEO Yang to step down

DivX sues Yahoo over canceled ad deal

HP sees fourth-quarter sales boost

Google 'Voice Search' hands-on verdict: Awesome

Six cars for your iPod