High-tech boom brings a sense of déjà vu in San Francisco: Don't worry everybody, this it totally not a boom:

"We're not saying this is a tech boom. We're saying this is the new direction of the San Francisco economy," San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee said.

Yeah, right.

HP shutting down webOS device operations, will "continue to explore options": This is crazy! Less than 2 weeks after I bought a TouchPad, all webOS hardware is dead! And don't believe this corporate double-speak, I think all of the software is dead too.

This was such a huge waste on the part of HP, that I don't even know where to begin. For now, Dieter Bohn This is my next... has some more coverage of this fiasco.

It looks like I'll be returning my Touchpad wherefrom I got it this weekend.

IBM Research: This cognitive computing chip taught itself how to play Pong: This article is light on details, but if this new chip from IBM lives up to the hype, it could make computers way more intelligent in the near term. (via John Siracusa)

New Noah's Ark in Ky. aims to prove truth of Bible: Question: what happens if they build this thing, and it doesn't hold the proscribed number of animals? (via Kontra)

"Streamlining": I got pinched by this a few months ago — I temporarily upgraded my SMS plan, and now the plan that I used to have is gone. Extremely annoying. If there were actual, factual competition between mobile carriers in the US, I would dump this AT&T clowns in an instant. (via John Gruber)

OuchPad: Best Buy Sitting on a Pile of HP Tablets: Assuming Arik Hesseldahl's report is true, than this just reinforces the notion that there isn't really a tablet market — there is just an iPad market.

Groupon Panic: Is It Insolvent--and Could IPO Get Pulled?: Groupon really feels like an Enron-ish scam, so if their IPO doesn't make it, that could actually be a really good thing.