• Disney to merge ABC TV net and production arms (Wall Street Journal)
• The big toycos prep to conform to new safety laws while small businesses struggle (Bloomberg)
• Also on the toy front, India bans Chinese-imports without giving a reason (Reuters India)
• No White Knights galloping forth for failing retailers (Reuters)
• Are we even closer to the invisibility cloak? (Wired/GeekDad)
• Microsoft to slash 5,000 jobs (New York Times)
• The Children’s Place sees e-commerce spike, but cuts jobs (Yahoo!)
• China a bright spot for big-name retailers in spite of economic slump (Wall Street Journal)
• The Dark Knight, Iron Man and WALL-E get Oscar nods (MTV)
• Kids say the darndest things to Obama. In book form. (Neatorama)
• Warner Bros. slashes 10% of workforce (Bloomberg)
• US retail stocks continue downward spiral (CNNMoney)
• Used games drive GameStop sales (Wall Street Journal)
• Comparing Disney and Universal theme park lineup lengths (The Examiner)
• TakaraTomy’s take on the Game of Life board game reflects current life in the economy? (Neatorama)
• Steve Jobs leaves Apple, but stays on board with Disney (Washington Post/paidContent.org)
• How cell phones will change the ways of listening to music (Wired/Epicenter)
• The troubles of evergreen character comebacks (The Sunday Times)
• Iron Man nominated for its eye candy by the Visual Effects Society (The Hollywood Reporter)
• Circuit City liquidates its US stores (L.A. Times)
• A Scrabble keyboard for the word game fanatics (BoingBoing.net)
• Perhaps you’d like to add a Darth Vader gas mask to your Star Wars collection? (Gizmodo)
• Blast from the past: old-school video game ads (Unreality Magazine)
• Q4 numbers set to reveal the toy industry isn’t as recession-proof as some think (CNNMoney.com)
• Channel to be shoehorned into a wider entity, UK gov’t report leak suggests (Financial Times)
• Kids apparel manufacturers in a panic over lead testing (L.A. Times)
• The voice behind the voice of Lisa Simpson (The Guardian)
• Bloomsbury’s profits in the post-Potter era (The London Telegraph)
• Star Wars, as hilariously told by someone who hasn’t seen it (Wired/GeekDad)
• US retail sales continue to fall (Wall Street Journal)
• Teens’ changing attitude towards Abercrombie and other retail musings (SeekingAlpha.com)
• WALL-E scores the Golden Tomato on RottenTomatoes.com (Associated Press)
• A look at Disney World’s American Idol Experience (L.A. Times)
• The struggling Yahoo! gets a new CEO (Forbes)
• How girls are driving Nintendo Wii and DS sales (Tulsa World)
• Where’s the money in digital platforms? (Variety)
• Brit shoppers show resilience in UK retail slump (Wall Street Journal)
• Kid-friendly franchises like Harry Potter could lead box office numbers in 2009 (Associated Press)
• The hardest part of the recession could be behind us (Forbes)
• Are fairy tales too scary for children? (Motherlode/New York Times)
• Man takes more than a quarter of a century to solve Rubik’s Cube (BoingBoing.net)
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