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Updated: Industry Moves: Microsoft Picks Qi Lu To Head DigitalToday

Update: Microsoft has confirmed Lu's appointment in an official release. Lu will start January 5, and report directly to CEO Steve Ballmer. He will oversee a trio of execs—but not all of the names initially thought: Nadella, Mehdi and Scott Howe, who has been promoted to SVP of MSFT's Advertiser & Publisher Solutions group. Former aQuantive CEO Brian McAndrews previously held that title, but he'll be transitioning out—and leaving MSFT—over the next several months.

Microsoft's quest to find a digital head will end in a rather technical choice: former Yahoo EVP of engineering for Search and Ad Tech Qi Lu, according to Kara. The final details of his contract are being ironed out, and could be announced by next week, the story says. This position has been vacant since Kevin Johnson left and joined Juniper.

The logic for hiring Lu: since a lot of Microsoft's future rests on winning in the search and search ad space and catching up with Google and Yahoo, Lu is also well suited for the position. But it is still a curious choice, as Lu

Gaming Roundup: N-Revolution; Red Bull/Sony Home; Giant Realm; Army/Second Life; JumpStart; GH5Today

—Imagine shutters N-Revolution gaming mag : UK-based magazine publisher Imagine is pulling the plug on N-Revolution, its Nintendo-focused title. But don't blame this one on the economy—Imagine is folding the mag because its core gamer target doesn't seem to be Nintendo's focus anymore. "[It] has become increasingly obvious that Nintendo's strategy for Wii and DS ... has moved increasingly away from the hardcore gaming community that is our specialty," said Damian Butts, Imagine's managing director, in an interview with MCV.

—Red Bull sets up shop in PlayStation Home : Red Bull is developing an island inside Home, Sony's long-awaited virtual world for the PS3. Gamers will be able to race planes on the island in competitions modeled after the real world Red Bull Air Race World Series. Red Bull is the first company to set up shop in Home. Brand Republic says Sony (NYSE: SNE) execs kept mum on additional brand partners, but said they'd announce them in

RealNetworks CEO Glaser On Layoffs: 'Reflection Of The Economy'Today

In the wake of the layoff of 7.5 percent of RealNetworks' staff, Rob Glaser, chairman and CEO, sent an internal memo now posted at AlThingsD (including audio and video links I have yet to get to work). Some of it mirrors the company blog post we referred to earlier, but Glaser offers some more details, including how the layoffs were distributed—one third in Seattle headquarters (where the holiday party has been canceled), one third in other U.S. locations and the rest from international. He cites two reasons for the cuts: integrating the company's various acquisitions and "a reflection of the economy. While our business has not been affected as much as many, we are not immune to what's going on in the wider economy."

But Glaser, like many of the other execs we're hearing from, also wants to avoid the aura that comes with layoffs: "Despite the changes being made today, which I and the rest of the management team deeply regret, the company is well positioned to weather the current economic storm. As per our last earnings call, we expect to achieve record revenue for the year, and we still see oppor

NBC Layoffs Well Underway; 500 Across Company; 17 From iVillageToday

In October, NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) CEO Jeff Zucker served notice that the company would cut costs by some $500 million, or 3 percent of the overall budget. This week, part of that's being translated into roughly 500 jobs across the company with most of the notices coming today; some may be pushed into early next week. That translates into 3 percent of the 15,000-person workforce—a coincidence, I'm told, not a target; sources say that there were no specific targets like cutting x amount of jobs in each area but the total overall had to meet Zucker's public goal of at least $500 million in reduced operating costs for 2009. The company isn't providing a breakdown by department or domestic-international—or the specific savings from layoffs alone—but some details are emerging and we'll update as we get more:

-- We wrote earlier today about 30 cuts in sales.

-- The direct effect on digital was described to me as a

Sure, Newspapers Could Just Die A Painful Death; But Here's Another OptionToday

If you want to watch news travel fast, make sure it's about the newspaper industry. Fitch, a credit-rating service, has predicted that some daily newspapers will go out of business as their parent companies default on their debt and are forced to liquidate. But this prediction is extreme: There are interim steps that papers can take to stave off the cash drain.

More after the jump…

Even if Fitch is right, what if instead of liquidating the assets, the papers were reclassified and/or contributed to a not-for-profit? Presumably, someone could benefit from the tax write-off. Sam Zell, owner of Tribune, sold Newsday earlier this year; perhaps there was a gain he wants to offset. He could contribute the Baltimore Sun to a newly established not-for-profit. There was a group in Baltimore that wanted to buy the paper when Tribune was originally for sale--that group could serve as management for the paper and oversee the not-for-profit.

While converting to a not-for-profit won't improve the financials, it