links for 2005-11-17

Steve Rubel: "Reuters has launched a new program that converts the text of its news reports into podcasts." Good to see Reuters innovating on news presentation.  But if you read the comments on Steve’s post, you’ll see that the implementation leaves something to be desired.

CNN’s replacement for the venerable Inside Politics will include a tip of the hat to the online world, with podcasts and blogs part of the coverage.  Let’s just hope they incorporate it in a less cheesy way than the current IP blog segment.  CNN reports on its own format change: "The Situation Room" will be…

It feels like it is 1999 again.  WSJ reports eBay is paying $2.6 billion (more with earnouts) to buy Skype, an Internet phone company that projects revenues of $60 million this year. UPDATE: PaidContent reports on eBay’s efforts to explain why it isn’t 1999 and the deal makes sense.  It includes a 78 slide PowerPoint.

The Washington Post covers the ongoing saga between bloggers and the FEC.

Townhall.com is spinning off from The Heritage Foundation to become a separate entity and is shedding its 501(c)3 tax status in the process.  This represents a major development as it will no longer be constrained by IRS rules to avoid political activism.  It has the potential to become a powerful conservative grassroots activation tool.  (As…