The Tech Updates Dot Com

Carl Icahn, the activist billionaire investor who made such a noisy fuss in his quest to force management and other changes at Yahoo, is taking a much quieter leave from the Internet giant’s board.
He apparently has told the Yahoo (YHOO) board that “there was not a need at this time for an activist investor” and [...]

The former head of Google Health, Adam Bosworth, officially unveiled his much anticipated health-care start-up today at the Health 2.0 conference in San Francisco, showing off a site that will offer step-by-step and personalized “care plans,” as well as many kinds of online tools to better understand the data and tips on how to stay [...]

Is there gold in them thar tweets?
Maybe so, because–according to sources familiar with the situation–Twitter is in advanced talks with Microsoft and Google separately about striking data-mining deals, in which the companies would license a full feed from the microblogging service that could then be integrated into the results of their competing search engines.
Sources said [...]

Unlike the gripping back and forth of the fight over Yahoogle last year, the approval process for the search and online advertising partnership of Microsoft and Yahoo is chugging along slowly but surely as the Justice Department has deepened its investigation by reaching out to a broad range of publishers, advertisers, public interest groups and [...]

Today, All Things Digital debuts a new feature called “Almost Famous” in our Voices section.
No, it is not about Kate Hudson and nascent rock stars.
Well, you might meet geek rock stars to be.
Focused on innovative, interesting or just plain odd start-ups, we thought it was a good way for ATD readers to get a gander [...]

According to several sources close to the situation, barring any unforeseen delay, a deal to settle the Skype imbroglio is likely to be announced around the time the markets open tomorrow.
[UPDATE: The paperwork is taking longer than expected, so sit tight, said sources.]
While the massive agreement–which will settle three aggressive lawsuits lobbed by Skype co-founders [...]

Tony Conrad, CEO and co-founder of Sphere–the contextually relevant content engine AOL bought in the spring of 2008 for upward of $25 million–left the Time Warner (TWX) online unit last month, several sources have told BoomTown in recent weeks.
But, in an effort by AOL’s CEO Tim Armstrong to hold onto entrepreneurial talent, Conrad (pictured above) [...]

Here is a video interview BoomTown did with Bob Visse, GM of MSN Product Management today at Microsoft (MSFT) offices in San Francisco.
The new MSN homepage debuts tonight with a redesign cutting clutter, adding the ability to access both top social networking sites Facebook and Twitter, a local focus and with Microsoft’s new Bing search [...]

Longtime Yahoo tech leader Ash Patel is taking some time off until early 2010.
Yahoo (YHOO) confirmed the break to BoomTown.
In recent days, many inside the company had mistakenly thought the 44-year-old EVP for Product Architecture & Strategy was departing the company for good.
Actually, it’s more of a sabbatical for Patel (pictured here).
“Ash will be [...]

Microsoft (MSFT) announced much better than expected results for its first quarter of fiscal 2010–led by strong Windows and Xbox demand and cost discipline.
While revenue and net income were down, the results were a major surprise given more lackluster estimates.
Here are the software giant’s slides on the financial results, which you can enjoy all weekend [...]