Jupitermedia

Technology companies are hoping President-Elect Barack Obama will spend millions on new IT bells and whistles for the U.S. government. In the meantime, however, a few companies, including Microsoft and YouTube, are jumping on Obama's high-tech bandwagon to make Inauguration Day available on the Web.

On Wednesday, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced he is taking a medical leave because his illness has become more complex. That news sent Apple's stock down seven percent.

It wasn't the first time the stock market worried about Jobs' health. Apple's stock also tumbled in December when Apple announced that a gaunt Jobs would not give the keynote at Macworld. Earlier this month, Jobs disclosed that he suffered from a hormone imbalance, but said he would continue leading Apple.

To the growing list of Things That Are Less This Year, add attendance at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which wrapped up Sunday. According to figures released by the sponsoring Consumer Electronics Association, the attendance was roughly 110,000, or about 22 percent less than 2008's show.

The huge CES, a weather vane for electronic devices, featured more than 2,700 companies and an estimated 20,000 new products spread over 1.7 million net square feet of exhibit space.

Pre, OLED, Windows 7

After winning the format war against rival HD-DVD, Blu-ray high-definition DVDs were left with the question of whether they could win the peace. Recent 2008 sales figures, released at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last week, show that Blu-ray is beginning to pick up speed.

Overall, Blu-ray Disc sales in the U.S. hit 24 million in 2008, compared with 5.67 million in 2007. In terms of total revenue from Blu-ray, about $750 million was spent last year -- a small but growing figure when compared to the nearly $22 billion for DVDs.

Palm came out ready to fight in the war of smartphones, not only with a new mobile platform but a new smartphone. The company on Thursday announced the Palm Pre, a smartphone that will be available exclusively from Sprint and compete with Apple's iPhone 3G and Research In Motion's BlackBerry Storm.

Despite this Macworld being Apple's last, despite Apple CEO Steve Jobs not delivering the keynote address, and despite efforts at a silent protest during the keynote, the show went on with great success. Apple had a lot to announce and Philip Schiller, vice president of worldwide product marketing, took his time on stage to announce new products and services.

In the face of a tough economy, the gaming industry held its own during the 2008 holiday shopping season. Nintendo's Wii was the overall winner, but Microsoft also had some strong numbers.

In fact, Microsoft's Xbox 360 video-game console recorded its biggest year. Microsoft sold more consoles, games and online entertainment experiences than in any previous year despite an economic downturn.

Motorola on Tuesday announced two new mobile devices with social responsibility and social connectivity in mind. The Moto W233 Renew is made of plastic from recycled water bottles, while the Motosurf A3100 is a high-speed touch tablet with a customizable home screen. Both devices are debuting at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Microsoft posted a quick fix on New Year's Day for the glitch that made some of its Zune digital music players freeze up the day before, thanks apparently to a leap-year problem encountered by the Zune's internal clock. Since 2008 had an extra day, including February 29th, the calendar/clock on some Zunes got confused about when the new year was about to start.

Google's Android App Market will begin selling applications early this year. Google had promised a way for developers to earn cash for their applications.

Apple's App Store lets developers keep 70 percent of the revenue generated from application sales. RIM's Blackberry Application Store promises to give developers 80 percent of the revenue when its store launches in March.