Just when TV was turning into "a reality-show wasteland populated by big losers, idols, and angry chefs," the Writers Guild of America-West President Patric Verrone has recommended that his fellow striking writers "unanimously and unconditionally" approve new terms reached with the major production companies over a series of residuals-related issues, including online reproductions of their work. Complete details of the proposed settlement were not made available, but the Guild will vote on whether to return to work after striking for four months on Tuesday. However, various reports claim that the writers have made big gains when it comes to …

Facebook users are upset again, this time over how difficult it is for users to completely remove themselves from the social network. In fact, so difficult is the process that Facebook users founded a new group, "How to permanently delete your Facebook account." While users have the option to deactivate their accounts, the accounts themselves aren't deleted from Facebook's servers; rather, the information is stored indefinitely. Said one user who unsuccessfully tried to delete his Facebook account: "It's like the Hotel California. You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave." The same user exchanged emails …

The Economist claims that the proposed marriage of Microsoft and Yahoo is more about helping Microsoft expand its "cloud" computing capabilities than it is about combining content and powerful search and display advertising services. Make no mistake about it, the paper says--as computing moves off the desktop and into the online "cloud", the company with the most data will win the advertising wars. That's why Microsoft wants access to Yahoo's massive user base with its suite of well-used services, like Yahoo Finance and Yahoo News. Should the merger go through--and many feel it will despite Yahoo's rejection of the …

Exactly one week after Microsoft's proposed $45 billion acquisition, Yahoo's board is now ready to make a decision, sources say. A board meeting held later today will decide the future of the company. Yahoo's choices are either to become a Microsoft unit or outsource its search advertising to Google in a bid to remain independent. The board is leaning towards accepting the Microsoft deal, although there is a group of senior execs "willing to do literally anything" to stop a Microsoft takeover, who are said to support a Google partnership. While the latter scenario would reap immediate …

At the world's biggest wireless fair in Barcelona next week, British chipmaker ARM is scheduled to unveil a new handset model loaded with Google's Android mobile platform. Details about what the device looks like or who would supply the parts were not provided. Neither Google nor ARM would commented for the article. Android is set to become commercially available in the second quarter of this year. Research firm Strategy Analytics estimates that by the end of the year, Android will be loaded in 2 percent of smartphones. Google has signed on more than 30 carriers, handset makers, software …