Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz will get all Sound of Music on the social networking giant by saying (or hopefully singing) “So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu” to the website he helped create alongside Mark Zuckberg while studying at Harvard nearly five years ago. Hmm, does that makes Zucks Julie Andrews or Captain von Trapp? Sorry, can’t resist a musical reference. Annnyway, Moskovitz, along with engineering manager Justin Rosenstein, plan to leave Facebook for an as-yet-unnamed start-up they hope will be “to your work life what Facebook.com is to your social life.” In a note on his Facebook page, Rosenstein commented, “Leaving Facebook makes me sad, but I feel I have to follow my passion on this.” Hmm, I’m thinking the oodles of cash and stocks will help soothe any lingering sadness about the departure.

A turbulent economic situation has eBay execs trying to regain some footing with workforce slashes and billion dollar acquisitions. The online auction house and retailer announced plans today to cut 1,000 employees, or about 10 percent of its global workforce, and drop an estimated $1.3 billion to snap up PayPal rival Bill Me Later and Denmark-based classified advertising sites DBA.dk and BilBasen. eBay owns PayPal and plans to combine it with Bill Me Later following the completion of the $945 million acquisition. The website’s shares fell 8 percent following the announcements, sinking to the lowest level in over five years.

Nineteen of Gawker Media’s 133 editorial workers will likely spend the evening curled up in a ball on a cushy chair sipping Xanax-laced chamomile tea and listening to smooth jazz. Citing concerns of a downturn in advertising sales, Gawker Media founder Nick Denton sent out a Debbie Downer memo today announcing the layoffs of 19 people at the blog collective’s 12 sites. The shifts and cuts include Denton removing himself as managing editor at Gawker.com, moving media reporter Gabriel Snyde into the role and giving the boot to three of Valleywag’s five staffers. Ouch! What a crappy way to kick off the weekend; pass that prescription-spiked hot brew this way.

As if Wall Street’s assets hadn’t received enough exposure lately, Playboy is ready to take advantage of a tough market to bolster its bottom line. Females in financial positions — the bigger the better — are being sought for the February 2009 “Women of Wall Street” edition of the magazine, although the pay probably won’t cover the rent on that Manhattan apartment. Playboy is banking on the large pool of well-groomed New York honeys looking for “…attention, the opportunity, the experience of doing it.” This might be the only part of Wall Street Joe Six-Pack won’t be whining about come Valentine’s Day.

With commercials still airing about Michael Phelps, it’s hard to believe that the time has come to gear up for the next Winter Olympic games, but get your credit cards ready (if they’re working). Applications for 70% of tickets are being accepted starting today and running through November 7 using a system “…designed to thwart scalpers trying to snap up tickets to the best events.” Prices run from $25 for some events up to 1100 smackeroos for a seat to the opening ceremonies. Sign me up for some ice dancing!

We all know how redesigns can send normally sane people into a tizzy (see New Facebook upheaval), but the revamped look of Google’s Blogsearch home page has thus far earned polite golf claps, although it has also garnered plenty of comparisons to Techmeme. Google’s resident SEO policeman, Matt Cutts, discussed the makeover in his blog, pointing out Blogsearch now shares a similar look with Google News, but claims the it uses an entirely different code. Cutts also gave a shout out to Guy Kawasaki’s AllTop and up-and-coming social aggregator FriendFeed for their contributions to the world of discovery sites. Google makes everything seem like a skip through the meadow, but you know somewhere Techmeme has hired some serious secret service style bodyguards–beware of the Google Monster.

If tech geeks published their own version of Tiger Beat, Pete Cashmore’s scruffy mug would litter every page–think Jonathan Taylor Thomas mid-90s only older and with a desire to incorporate social networking chit-chat into dirty bedroom talk. Do you want a poke or a super poke my little gigabyte? While Cashmore likely won’t compete with the Jonas Brothers for a spot on the walls of tween girls everywhere, it seems he may emerge as the heartthrob for 20-something geekettes. Facebook groups like “Pete Cashmore is just too handsome — God bless him” have popped up and a newly created Fan Page has Pete fans revealing juicy tidbits about the Mashable founder like “Pete Cashmore gives the best man hugs! He’s also a good dancer.” Man hugs, a smooth dancer and a five o’clock shadow that won’t quit–how does he do it?

“So, a horse goes into a bar and orders a John Smith’s bitter… ” If that sounds like a bad joke, imagine what Jackie Gray thought when she realized one of the regulars in the bar she’d just purchased was a horse. “Although she is probably cleaner than some of my customers, I had to put my foot down and show her the door,” said the new proprietor of the Alexandra Hotel. Peter Dolan, the Peggy’s owner, explained that one day she followed him into the bar and had been a regular ever since. “People come into the pub and the first thing they say is ‘Where’s Peggy? I tell them she’s kicked the habit and is teetotal now.” At least she wasn’t smoking.

The latest round of funding for everyone’s favorite news aggregation site likely has founder Kevin Rose swimming in a pool of money a la Scrooge from late-1980s cartoon DuckTales. Think of Reddit as the Beagle Boys in this little Disney animation analogy. Digg’s latest round of funding, almost $29 million raised in early September, values the company at “around $175 million,” according to a source with the inside scoop on the deal.

Times are tough when a CEO has to resort to selling his art collection, the works of which might be considered minimalist, though the price tags are most definitely not. Sixteen pieces — including works by Gorky and de Kooning — were offered for sale at Christie’s starting last month, first being offered to buyers in Russia and London, before coming back to the states in November. Robert Fuld, Jr. and his wife should make between $15 and $20 million from the sale, and the paintings, unlike our homes, come with a guaranteed minimum payout should they sell or not. Not alone in his sudden “poverty,” Joe Gregory, former president Lehman, was forced to sell his helicopter recently as well. Gee. Life is hard at the top. Pass the Spam.

Time to make sure your amber bock is the real thing. The Fossil Fuels Brewing Company of California, started by microbiologist Raul Cano, specializes in producing some seriously aged frosty goodness using a 45 million-year-old, living microorganism extracted from amber. The company’s delectable dinosaur-era brews include T-Rex Lager, Stegosaurus Stout and Ancient Ale, but they have recently made the decision that after 13 years in existence, it’s time to get the big boys on board to get the word out. Wonder if they have an expiration date?
(Photo Credit: Cal Poly Magazine)

If Yahoo or eBay signs your paycheck, you may want to consider perfecting your street performer skills because you may find yourself unemployed in the near future and with the Silicon Valley unemployment rate hitting a four-year high, finding a new corporate gig may prove difficult. Rumors abound that Yahoo and eBay will start handing out pink slips any day as both seek to give their respective bottom lines a little makeover before third-quarter earnings are posted October 21. Cheer up, you know you were looking for an excuse to break out the unicycle and accordion anyway.

Oracle President Charles Phillips kicked off Monday’s keynote at the annual OpenWorld conference with plenty of back patting and the announcement of two new units and a handful of new products. The software company has played it like Pac-Man in last 44 months, gobbling up and acquiring 50 companies, consequently doubling its workforce. While Pac-Man apparently had a previous engagement filming an “I Love 1980″ VH1 special, Oracle managed to book another fierce competitor, Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps. The 14-time Olympic gold medalist yammered on about his training schedule and nauseating diet, never once offering to strip down to his skivvies–me thinks Phelpsie needs a better agent. Yes yes, if I could swim like the spawn of a tryst between Zeus and a dolphin, I’d lend my mug to any conference, birthday party or bar-mitzvah who put up the cash, but I’d at least have the courteousness to show up in my Speedo.

Even though you might want to whack that guy on the train blabbing about how women should stay home right upside the head, chances are he’s making more money than his more egalitarian counterparts. Yep, a study that looked at a national sample from 1979 to 2005 revealed that Mr. Neanderthal is pulling down an average of $8500 more a year, but that women with more traditional views make about $1500 less than their more liberal sisters. It will come as no surprise, though, that the study also revealed a tendency for the more traditionally-minded to be married, more religious and found outside of the so-blue-they’re-drowning cities of the Northeastern states. Hmm, guess that first husband should have been more the old-fashioned type.
(Photo Credit: Jacob Wackerhausen/iStockphoto)

You know times are tough when the drug dealers have to charge for delivery services to cover gas. A coke dealer from Hammond, Indiana charged a customer $25 extra for the almost 20-mile drive necessary to hand over the goods. Those shipping and handling costs will get ya every time.

Mark Zuckerberg is in a relationship with 100 million of us. Yes, we have our ups and downs, like any relationship. Sometimes he leaves the toilet seat up and sometimes he screws with our entire sense of stability, debuting a redesign that leaves us feeling vulnerable and in need of a hug (or a wall to punch.) Zucks doesn’t take to opening up very often unless it’s to calm our fears and say “Baby, I’m sorry.” He’s a dude like that. This week, after much upheaval and bitching about New Facebook, Mark explained the changes to our relationship, effectively petting our worried little heads and soothing our concerns with chocolate and roses. With comforting words like “we realize that change can be difficult” and “I think it’s an important step for us,” Mark asked us to give our new relationship a shot because in the end, if we don’t move forward together, we’ll grow apart.

With likely a googol of topics to talk about, Google co-founder Sergey Brin chose to discuss his personal connection to Parkinson’s for the first post in his newly-created personal blog, dubbed “Too.” The 35-year-old exec opens up about his mother’s years of minsdiagnosises and frustrations until, after countless trips to numerous specialists, doctors established a conclusive diagnosis of Parkinson’s. Despite efforts to soothe his mother’s fears of inherited Parkinson’s, Brin remained curious as to whether or not his genes held any clues. With the help of his wife’s personal genomics company, 23andMe, Brin learned that both he and his mother carry the G2019S mutation, meaning he “has a markedly higher chance of developing Parkinson’s… than the average person.” Could Brin team up with Michael J. Fox to create a powerful, Parkinson’s battling force? Let’s break out the DeLorean and get crackin’ on a cure!

Palin, McCain, Obama and Biden might not be able to run a major corporation, but it looks like Paris can. Noting that she resents her image as a lay-about icon, the heiress explained, “I am literally running a huge corporation. I have my clothing lines, my champagne, my watches, shoes and purses and dog clothes — every sort of product you can imagine. I am doing movies. I am doing my record right now, producing, starring in a TV show. So it is a 24 hour, seven day-a-week job. I work all the time, so I laugh when I hear people say that [I don’t work].” It’s just so, well, sexist! Anyone else thinking a 2012 VP run?

Viral Marketing? Pish-posh says public relations exec and new-media publicist Brian Solis. Speaking at New York’s Web 2.0 Expo, Solis voiced his opposition to the trend of gimmicky online creations that have companies flocking to MySpace, Facebook and YouTube in hopes of sparking some buzz with a silly gopher-doing-backflips-video or create-a-dancing-avatar. So, without viral marketing, what’s a business to do? Well, skip creating spectacles and focus on starting conversations. Solis encourages building relationships with bloggers and traditional news journalists by engaging in conversations. Don’t go all Tila Tequila-style and befriend everyone and their mom, create valuable connections without coming across as trying too hard. Solis wrapped up his presentation with the wise words of Wile E. Coyote: “It’s not about shilling, it’s not about pushing, and it’s not about faking it.”

In light of these tough economic times, a few extra bucks would be welcome by anyone, but 20-year-old Italian model, Raffella Fico, has decided that the world’s oldest profession is her best bet. For a cool one million euros, Fico is auctioning off her virginity, which her family claims to be well intact thanks to her strict Catholic upbringing (huh?). She welcomes all bidders, even those attractively-challenged saying, “If I don’t like him I’ll just have a glass of wine and forget about it.” Well, there’s the Catholic in her.

If you were banking on a fling with a tall, dark and handsome member of the hotel staff on your next Meditteranean holiday, better skip the Image Hotel in Marmaris, Turkey. The hotel has decided to maintain a female-only staff after repeated incidents of a romantic nature took place between the men working in the hotel and female guests. Mostly patronized by British and Russian travelers, the final straw came when the bartender — a “decent man” — was observed exiting a restroom with a British tourist following an intimate tryst. Darn those loose women and their wily ways.

Pieces by the artist known as Pietro Psaier, a supposed colleague of and collaborator with Andy Warhol, are commanding some hefty prices around the world, but the brakes are being applied as experts question whether or not Psaier ever set foot in the Factory or even knew Warhol. Mystery surrounds the life of the vagabond artist who is said to have died in Sri Lanka during the 2004 tsunami, with little documentation existing to prove the connection currently being challenged by the Andy Warhol Foundation. Researchers have been hired to legitimize the claim before the works are sold at auction.

With rumors swirling that Apple will debut an updated Macbook October 14, more hints back up that chatter as word has it that the aluminum-cased Macbook have already begun shipping to retailers. CitiGroup analyst Richard Gardner reports that the new version of the beloved Macbook have a “very thin aluminum casing, an LED-backlit display and an aggressive entry-level price point.” Could the aluminum Macbook hurt sales of Macbook Pros as status seekers can get the silver look for less?

If you recently scooped up some polyester skirts or bedazzled blouses from Forever 21, then check your credit card statement because a security breach as the trendy retailer gave hackers access to customer payment card information. The breach affects customers who purchased goods from the store on the following nine dates: March 25, 2004; March 26, 2004; June 23, 2004; July 2, 2004; July 3, 2004; August 4, 2007; August 5, 2007; August 13, 2007; and August 14, 2007. Check out Forever 21’s website for more details.