Signs of the Times:

Microsoft to lay off 5,000 workers beginning today. For the first time in the world's largest software manufacturing company's history, it is laying people off rather than hiring them. Word is that reduced sales of PCs along with the popularity of cheap NetBooks, which necessitate low cost operating systems, have both cut seriously into sales of its chief products, the operating system itself and the office program. Apple folks will note that their market share has continued to increase even in difficult financial times and concerns about the health of its CEO.

(See Ashlee Vance's New York Times' story.)

Sony Announces Biggest Losses in Its History:

Sony expects to lose $3 billion this year as a result of the economic turn down, the largest in the Japanese electronics manufacturer's history. Loss in sales is cited as the primary reason for financial losses. (See The New York Times' story.)

Michigan Becomes First State to Register Double-digit Unemployment:

Nobody's buying new cars and the effect on Michigan is dramatic. (See NPR.org.)

Obama Signs Executive Orders Closing Secret Prisons:

The desk was almost empty in the White House where the new president sat, signing the order that would bring about the closure of secret CIA prisons around the world, but the crowd surrounding him was large and smiling. (See The New York Times' story.)